Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1906-12-19
BOXERS SHOULD
POST FORFEITS
is THE ONLY WAY TO PROTECT
ALL CONCERNED
often Spectators Are Disappointed Be-
cause One Of the Men Fails to Put
in Appearance or Make
Proper Weight

Boxing clubs throughout the country
in making matches should insist on
each boxer posting a forfeit to guar
antee his appearance in the ring as
per his contract with the club and his
opponent.
If this rule was enforced to the letter
there would be fewer disappointments
and the clubs could put their shows on
as advertised, and the many wrangles
which frequently precede battle of
Importance would be done away with.
To disappoint an audience is severe
blow to the boxing game, and it means
big loss to the promoter, and alto
gether it is a distasteful feature that
could be easily handled If the boxers
were made to place a cash deposit as
guarantee of good faith.
Take, for instance, the battle between
Tommy Ryan and Jack Moffat, which
was billed before one of the big San
Francisco clubs some six years back
In this bout -. an took a notion that
he was not In as ID shape as he
would like to have been in, and at the
last moment he said he wouldn't box.
The club people were up in the air
and were forced to make the announce
ment that Ryan had flunked, and as
substitute AL Neill was put on. Ryan's
FORGETTING was a source of displeasure
10 the puDlIC, anu TIE plOIllOIelo dS
well, who were losers on the deal.
Neill and Moffat didn't draw near as
much as Ryan and Moffatt would have
drawn.
o'keefe Overweight
In the contest before Alex Greg
gains club at San Francisco in which
Jack O'Keefe and Jimmy Britt were the
bright particular stars, there was
trouble galore. 0'Keefe came in over
weight, and, after the audience had
been comfortably housed, the an
nouncer made it known to the crowd,
who had waited an hour or more for
the main event to appear that Britt
had refused to box because OKeefe had
not weighed in.
There was an awful roar, and after
much speech making and wrangling it
was decided to give the people their
tickets back, and these would be re-
deemable at the club the following
day. Many were forced to take
tickets cheaper in value than those
purchased by them, and the usual
hangers on who gained admit
lance free-got coupons for high-priced
pasteboards, and, altogether, it was a
muchly muddled affair and created I'M
limited dissatisfaction.
Never in the experience of the ring
has one hitch occurred in boxing
match in which both men had substan-
tial forfeits posted.
For instance, when Kid Parker and
Young Peter Jackson boxed at Denver
in the summer of 1900, Jackson was
forced to put up a cash forfeit of $500
alone to guarantee that he would be at
weight, and if he had come in over
he would have forfeited that amount
and 800 for each pound or fraction
| thereof that he was over
Aside from this there was an appear
ance forfeit, and the contest went off
without a rub. And so it is with all
contests wherein both parties have for
feits posted.
1t is not safe in conducting a boxing
club to let ones own brother box be-
fore the club unless he put up a suf-
ficient guarantee that he would be
there when the bell rang for the first
round.