The Saint Paul globe., 1900-03-04

Control OF the Club management
Some Things "a Referee Might Do
If lie Dared.
There would be no poss BILE cause to
clltlcise the boxing bouts held in New
York state if the Horton law was strictly
enforced and the rules and conditions
slightly changed.
In the first place / think the referee
should have more power. There ought
TO be no question OF his right to stop
bout when in his mind one man has
other; When one pugilist has great skill
and his opponent great endurance but
very little skill, there is where the bru-
tallty comes in.
The Horton law says that boxing
bouts shall be for scientific points. Ref
erees don't think of that. They allow
men to be beaten down to the floor sew
eral times and almost knocked out before
they begin to count. And yet ii a ref
cree is merciful and prevents an unneces-
sary knockout there is a great howl from
those who went to see man beaten
Then I think there should be two tim
ers, like they have in England. Not
clocks Uhey can be tampered with, but
two honest men-eXperienced timers-one
TO mold watch on three minutes of the
round and the minute rest. the other
inner to count the seconds when a man
is down. Then there would be no mis-
takes and trouble like we have had in the
The referee should be honest and com
petent men picked out because they are
experts. They should be firmly upheld
In the decisions they. make by the club
club managers bet a Night and kick if
the referee stops it VIII it becomes bru-
tai in his opinion.
There would be very few brutal and
bloody tights If none but skillful men
were allowed to enter the ring The big
majority of the paying public would much
rather see glove contest. between two
cleVer men In good physical condition
than blood scrap between two untrain-
ed siuggers. If boxers would also take
hOt!ce or the rules and cut out 'heeling'
with the band, elbowing, dropping the
mead on their opponents shoulder and
other foul tactics. there would be less
Referee Charley White"
Good, sound logic, so far as it goes, but
Mr White falls signally to strike at the
root of the evils attendant upon boxing
under existing conditions in New York.
Referee White draws his salary, or stI-
pend, from the man who is the greatest
detrlment to boxing in the country. That
man Is Tom O'Rourke. During the recent
bout between Choynski and Walcott
O'Rourke was in the black mans corner.
Among the favorite expressions INDUCED
In by ORourke was one addressed to
Walcott, urging him to poke Choynsh
in the broken rib" Choice language that,
at high-class boxing bee. And that Is
but sample of that sort of work, which
is permitted by the average referee 1t IS
all Well enough to talk about eliminating
brutality from boxing bouts, but wouldn't
1t be more to the point to first put a stop
to such rowdyism as is INDUCED in by
O'Rourke and other esquires who pound
the floor when they cannot talk, and in
dulge in all sorts of unfair and objection
able advice to their principals during the
progress of a battle?
ENGLISH STYLE is BEST.
The English method of conducting Il
boxing bout is far better than is that fol-
lowed in America. No one is permitted
inside the ring save the principals-not
even the referee. There IS no chance for
an esquire to interfere and the referee In
England seems to have far better control
of the boxers than does that official in
America. In brief, there is too much
money at stake in the average American
battle. The referee is the servant of the
men who manage the matches. He must
do as they direct or lose his job. Take
the experience of George Siler. Siler
could not be used, and he is now off the
list as a New York referee. Mr.. White
has scraped over the surface In his sug
geStion for the improvement Of boxing.
but has avoided the real inwardness Of
the trouble. First stop roWdyism, and
hen 1t will be time to take up the Ques-
ton OF referees right to stop a bout
when he decides that one of the men has
no chance to win. Were a referee grant
ed any such authority under the present
regime, the bettor would have little show
for his money. The employer of the ref
cree could instruct his man to call off a
fight at q stage when the right money
was becoming jeopardized, and the ref
cree could hide behind his claim of act
ing in the interest Of humaneness. o, no
n GN0SS
again.
ALL A BIG BLUFF.
The contention that a referee cannot
control a battle is all bluff. If he is
the right sort of man-fearless and fair
there is no chance for anything, save
satisfactory conclusion to boxing bout.
He has the power to stop Mr.. ORourke
or any other esquire from coaching his
man from outside the ring. The Olympic
Athletic Club of New Orleans, during the
days when Prof. Duffy was referee of
the bouts that occurred in that club
house, permitted no rowdyism. The ref
cree was sole master of the ring. Be
fore a bout was started the spectators
were warned that rowdylSm would mean
for the party or parties guilty of it ejec-
ton from the club house, and at no
battle In the arena of that club did any
one ever hear a second urge his principal
to go in and murder the other fellow
or to poke him in the broken rib" You
are on the right track, Mr.. White, but
you must reform your master before you
begin to reform principals, or stop battles
before finished on the pretext of elininat-
ing from the game the element of bru-
tality.
CONTROL IS EASY.
When a referee really wishes to control
the principals in boxing match the task
IS far easier than one uninitiated would
suppose. Let boxer understand that II
he disobeys instructions he will be dis
qualified, and he will come pretty close
to doing about what Is right. Warn
second who is indulging in rowdy tactics
that continuance of the same will cost
his principal the decision, and the sec
ond will soon subside. One summer
night, on a steamboat, just north of the
city of st. Louis, Johnnie Ritclie, the
well known bantam boxer, was milling
with a local boxer OF lesser fame. On
the boat was a big blacksmith named
Dwyer. He had a wager on Ritchie.
There was no gong on the boat, and time
was called by the official timekeeper.
Whenever Ritchie was getting a bit the
worst of the milling, Dwyer would shout
Time and the boys would stop fight