Norwich bulletin., 1909-12-09

Queensberry rules e man who holds or clinches is by that act disqualified. But were the Queensberry rules strictly enforced, few if any contests would now get beyond the first round.
 Blame Yankee Boxers.
 Now, how it is that clinching has become so prevalent during recent years? Well, it is safe to say that the American style of boxing is almost wholly responsible. Men who are of the school of Jem Mace-men. that is, who use straight in-and-out arm work. rarely, if ever, need to clinch, for the simple reason that a man who punches straight will rarely if ever overreach himself In the days when the Queens berry rules were made men regarded clinch as quite an abnormal state of affairs. Ask J. H. Douglas of the Ma tional Sporting Life whether clinches were things of frequent occurrence at Lille Bridge and hear what he says. But with the advent of John l.. Sulli- van, who first adopted the swing as his long suit, and owing to his wonderful success, almost every boxer has since thought it incumbent upon him to em- ploy similar methods. The result has been-clinching.
 Tt is is-or should be-pretty obvi- ous that a man who uses swing blows has little or no control over his own movements. He will, for the sake of argument, start a right hand swing from low down by his hip. Now, if that punch lands, it is more than lia- ble to put his opponent to sleep. But, supposing it does not land, and fin the case of men like Mace, Jackson, Plim- mer, Griffo and Corbett the odds against it's landing are almost incalcu- Table, what happens? Why. the swinger, finding that he has missed |. l.41 fwx4 Ia .A thing in order to retain his balance. That something is, of course, some portion of his antagonists anatomy. Having got a hold he Is naturally not going to let go until he can see him. self out of danger with the result that he hangs on until he can clutch his opponents arms and prevent him It is obvious, therefore, that so long as swinging blows are allowed boxing contests must suffer from an abnormal amount of clinching.
 clinching Hurts Game.
 "The question now arises: How is clinching' to be done away with, or. at any rate, rendered less frequent? The obvious answer is. of course: Strictly enforce the Queensberry rules But, then, as we have already pointed out, a strict enforcement of the rules would prevent a vast majority of the con- tests from being brought to a conclu- sion, with the result that spectators would grumble consumedly and gate money would become a thing of the past. The American system is excel lent in it's way, but look at the terri ble mistakes that have been made by men refereeing in this fashion. It is a physical impossibility for a man who is dodging the boxers one moment and tearing them apart the next to keep track of the points. Unless one man has a painfully obvious advantage it is a mere tossup under these circum- stances whether the referee gives the decision to the better man or not.
 Advocates Two Referees.
 Years ago a suggestion was made which was copied into nearly all the leading American papers and was uni- versally commended, though, to tho best of our belief. never acted upon The suggestion was simply this: That there should be two referees to every contest, one within the ring and one out. The sole duty of the man in the ring would eb to break the men apart and insure a clean fight. The duty of the man outside the ring would be to score the points and decide any knotty problem which might arise. The man in the ring would have absolutely no voice in rendering the decision which would devolve upon the referee outside the ropes, whose sole duty 1t would be to find the winner, and whose attention would not, therefore, be distracted by the necessity Of constantly adJuring the men to Break away, there!'"