NEW YORK, Nov. 24 -- When New York Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg announced that he would be appointing Raymond Kelly as police commissioner when he takes office January 1, many people wondered whether Kelly would also continue in his unpaid job as the new chairman of the beleaguered New York State Athletic Commission.

Kelly is a former marine and 31-year veteran of the New York Police Dept. who also served as police commissioner in 1992-'93 under Mayor David Dinkins. He will become the first man to be reappointed police commissioner after leaving that office. Sitting ringside at Friday's "Fighting for America" card at Roseland Ballroom, he was unequivocal about whether or not he will also remain as athletic commission chairman.

"I hope to continue," he answered MaxBoxing.com about keeping both jobs last night. "The governor and Mayor-elect Bloomberg have agreed to that."

Kelly is one of those rare public servants who is respected in virtually all political circles in the fractious New York scene, from present Mayor Rudy Giuliani to former Mayor Dinkins to Rev. Al Sharpton. But as last night's postfight, in-ring assault by James Butler on Richard Grant demonstrated, commissioner Kelly will have to act swiftly and decisively to repair the rapidly deteriorating state of New York City boxing.

This year should be remembered in boxing as the year of inspiring triumphs by Bernard Hopkins, Marco Antonio Barrera, Floyd Mayweather, and so many others. Yet in New York City the names and events that seem to stand out are the death of Beethavean Scottland after what many felt was inadequate ringside attention by the commission physician; the quitting by Hector Camacho Jr. and the mishandling of that situation by the New York commission, which awarded him a victory; and now the James Butler sucker punch and subsequent arrest.

Before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, many people expected a riot at the Hopkins-Trinidad fight at Madison Square Garden, originally scheduled for Sept. 15 but moved to Sept. 29. Perhaps the circumstances of Sept. 11 and Hopkins's total and artful domination of Trinidad prevented that. Without those factors, however, trouble was expected. Throw in the postfight tantrum of Brooklyn-born Zab Judah, which will surely merit a stiff penalty by the Nevada commission, and New York's reputation in boxing is becoming scarier than ever in recent memory.

Timing is everything, we are told time and again, and Butler's disgusting mugging of Grant could be the catalyst that causes the forces seeking to end the chaos in New York to act.

Butler's attack took place at the very end of a night dedicated to helping and honoring those heroes who perished in the Sept. 11 attacks, and their families. It occurred on a live, nationally-televised broadcast on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights." It was the last punch thrown on a five-hour long fight card. There were several hundred police officers and other uniformed services workers, along with their friends and families, in attendance.

They chanted "Lock him up!" after Butler assaulted Grant, a chant joined in by many others in the crowd, including not a few of us in the media section. And all this unfolded while Kelly was ringside, a few feet away from this unwanted action.

Butler may also be an easy sacrificial lamb since his assault came after looking totally outclassed by Grant, a fighter who had beaten him once before and who came into the rematch with just a 13-8 record. After this defeat, Butler was not exactly going to be a big draw anyway, so there will be no pressure on the commission not to throw the book at him.

The real tests for the new commission will be in the more difficult and complicated situations to come where promoters have serious money at stake because of any commission disciplinary action or other safety or business actions they take. While no one questions the resolve and integrity of Kelly or the new executive director, Charles DeRienzo, they still need to be surrounded on the commission by veteran and competent boxing people who can tell when there is a problem that is not as obvious as Butler's mugging. DeRienzo is another former NYPD officer who also has no experience in boxing, and with whom most in New York boxing seem unfamiliar.

The alternative is for the situation in New York to deteriorate further. Besides endangering the well-being of fighters and even fans, more fiascos will result in fewer - if any - major cards in New York, still the media capital and once a fight capital of America. The broadcasting of these fiascos will also serve to make the situation worse.

So think about it. This was also a year when Hopkins's throwing down of the Puerto Rican flag and the Lennox Lewis-Hasim Rahman wrestling match, both at media events, grabbed headlines and were aired repeatedly. There were no fines, no sanctions, not even slaps on the wrist. Taunting, trash-talking, and disrespectful and unsportsmanlike conduct are more becoming the norm. Many of the promoters and much of the media not only don't care, but encourage these acts by participating in them themselves.

A lesson can be learned from other sports in this regard. All these types of actions would engender some type of punishment in the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball. Boxing craves the attention, the media coverage, and the advertising and sponsor support these sports enjoy. Is there a connection here between boxing's street thug activities and the scorn it earns from so many in the public and the media? The answer to that should be obvious.

But what is not obvious is the solution. Can a state commission, even run by dedicated men such as Kelly and DeRienzo, contain and eventually eliminate or at least minimize such behavior? Boxing also has an entrenched national and international infrastructure. How can a mere body of one state regulate that?

The discussion and legislative action to create some kind of national commission is once again stalled. It looks like it will take a major tragedy to rejuvenate that movement for boxing reform, or, perhaps, boxing will continue to punch itself in the jaw and knock itself out, remaining a fringe sport at best.

The public's patience for all this is at an end. Boxing needs some statesman to lead the charge to rectify its direction. That appears as likely to happen as Butler being elected Mayor of New York.

So Kelly's task as athletic commission chairman appears to be Herculean. And he must attempt to clean these Aegean stables while performing his duties as police commissioner in post-Sept. 11 New York.

Good luck, Mr. Commissioner.