Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-27
BOXING LOOSELY
GOVERNED SPORT
NO HARD AND FAST SET OF
RULES ADOPTED
Many Disputes Arise Regarding the
Right Of Claimants to Various
TitIes-Ring at a standstiII
Regarding Weights

The sport of boxing, which Is claimed
by historians to have been invented bv
Thesus son of an Athenian king ,vbo
nVed 24OO years ago and of which fairly
authentic records have been kent for
the past 200 years, stands out TODAY as
the most loosely governed form of ath-
letics.
No hard and fast set of rules has ever
been accepted for it's conduct and the
modern classification of pugilfsts into
weights representing certain divisions
is so elastic that for many years nearly
all the various titles have been held
under protest that their winners cap
tured them while above weight.
Weights at which championships
would be fought have been set subject
to the whims and caprices of the fight
ers engaged, or to the greater influence
that one side might bring to bear at
the time of drawing up articles.
The same situation exists with regard
to the rules under which championship
battles are being decided. There are
two primary sets of rules, those of the
London prize ring, which are still OBJ
served to a certain extent, and the re-
visions laid down by the Marquis of
Queensberry, under which present day
contests are supposed to be governed.
Rules Not Observed
These provisions constitute in them
selves practically complete set of reg
ulations. The facetious saying that
RULES are made to be broken" is, how
ever far from being in the nature of a
joke when applied to the Queensberry
regulations.
1t is safe to say that not one bout in
twenty, in this country or abroad, is
run strictly in accordance with these
rules, and no fighter appears too unim-
portant not to be able to compel a re-
vision when he signs articles for
match, whether for championship or
otherwise.
1t is in the matter of weight classif-
cation, however, that the ring has been
at standstili ever since pugiists were
divided into classes. There has been a
vague idea that certain weights repre-
sented the limit at which championship
titles can be won, but they have been
more honored in the breach than in the
observance.
The generally accepted list is as fol-
lows: Bantam, under 115 pounds;
feather, 122; light, 1873; welter, 142;
middle, 1853; light-heavy. 175, and
heavyweight, over IT'S pounds.
Time and again it has been agitated
that this list of limits. or something
very similar, be arbitrarily adopted by
clubs conducting prize fights in all
parts of the world, or at least that an
international conference be held, at
which set of weight limits can be
fixed for strict observance, to afford
clean cut means of determining the
champion in each class.
Look at me-" said Jack McAuliffe
last summer. "I look something like
mountain, don't I? You'd Think
weighed about 200 pounds, wouldn't
you? Well, I do. But no one ever
mo Of tho 1ipbtIypipht limit of
1873 pounds.
"Now, why can't 1 still claim to be
the lightweight champion? Others are
claiming titles these days after they
grow pounds above the limit of their
classes"
1t may be questioned whether Nc
Auliffe always defended his title at 1873
pounds, but it is generally agreed that
he won it at the recognized limit 1t
would, of course be an absurd thing
for McAuliffe to assert that he is even
factor in the pugilistic world, to say
nothing of his being a lightweight, but
with a clearly defined and recognized
limit, it would be equally impossible for
some of the 1876 to 1873 pound men VINO
are now masquerading as lightweights
to entertain any pretensions to the
championship.
A case in point was the bout
between Melody and Thomas for
the welterweight title. Thomas OBJ
jected to Melody fixing the weight at
142 pounds and wanted to meet him at
145. But if 145, why not 14S at which 1t
is asserted various welter champions
LhaVe defended their title?
And if Thomas could compel Melody
to meet him for the title at 145, cannot
another aspirant call for 14S, and for
the next man to raise the limit to 15O?
There is really no limit, once the recog-
nized figures are disregarded and it
would not be illogical for two so-called
welters to battle at a pound or two be-
low the middleweight limit.