Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-16
Contestants Now Make the
Bouts Hugging and Maui
ing Affairs.
OWNERS OF CLUBS
ARE AT FAULT
Corbett Says Promoters and
Referees Are Responsible
for Poor Exhibitions.
By James J. Corbett.

CINCINNATI, Ohio. October Is, 1910.
| do not wish to pose as know-it-all
In the game of pugilism, nor is it my de-
sire TO tell other people how to run their
business. At the same time little friend
" advice to club owners and referees
should not be out of place in this column.
In the last month l have attended a
number of boxing contests in New York
and Philadelphia and / may say with
out exaggeration that not in any one OF
them did the contestants show to my
satisfaction or 10 that of the public that
they had acquired the science of the
manly art. The contests as l saw them
were hugging and mauling affairs. some
thing on the order OF dog fights. Profess
sional opponents of boxing are supposed
10 know something of the science of the
game Boxing means to hit, stop and get
away. The bouts that l attended were
more like wrestling matches.
While the boxers themselves may be to
blame for the poor exhibitions, the club
owners and referees are to a certain ex-
tent at fault. Private agreements be-
tween contestants, of course, leave the
club officials helpless in some cases but
IL the promoters and referees would in
slst that their patrons be given exhibit
lions OF boxing when they pay literally
1or the privilege IL would go a long way
TO rid the ring of an element that evidently
knows nothing whatever of the require
ments of the game
l recently witnessed a glove contest in
Philadelphia between two heavyweights
The men were supposed TO box six three
minute rounds During the entire eight
cen minutes in which the contestants
were in the ring I do not think there
were more than three minutes of boxing
at long range. One OF the men would
Sh N oil "a
follow probably twenty seconds or more
OF hauling each other around the ring,
one hugsing and the other trying to rough
IL IN the clinch- The referee, to my mind,
was largely at fault in not forcing the
men 10 break sooner. He should be given
power by the promoters, as he is by the
rules or the game, to disqualify either or
Doth OF he men If they do not live up to
the rules.
In England where boxing is on a high
er plane, more attention is paid TO the
rules as laid down in the book In that
country referee does not enter the ring
Al all. but sits in a chair at one side
and gives the contestants his orders from
tnis point OF vantage When the men
cnnch they are Immediately ordered to
break. and II one man is a bit slow about
next failure to follow instructions will
be met with immediate disqualification.
The sport-loving public of that country
looks upon boxing as an art entirely
e.
With the exception of a few who could
be counted on the fingers of one hand,
the present crop of boxers on this side
OF the water has little or no conception
among the little fellows fully half the
time is spent in clinches and futile eff
forts TO land blows while hugging each
otner about the ring. One word from the
reieree or tap on the shoulder of the
principal offender should be sufficient to
make the men break, but / am sorry to
say such is not the case. The referee
really has more work to do trying to
separate the fighters" than the princi-
pals themselves in one of the modern
six or ten round affairs.
nowadays We seldom see a scientific
boxing match. The youngsters are game
enough and tough enough, but that about
lets most of them out. 1t is too bad
that professional boxing cannot be reg
G!ated as 1t is among the amateur clubs
ouldn II be great II a governing board
was established in every city where box
ing IS permitted. and that every scrapper
who desired to enter the professional
ranks would be required to demonstrate
That ne possessed a sufficient knowledge
OF the science OF boxing before being
allowed TO engage in a contest? Some
o! iie essential points necessary for a
boy to learn before he can call himself
clever Boxer or a scientific one are
ZEN ing leading and countering. blocking
ana foot work About all the mIdern
s. opl caches. if we are TO Judge FROM
'ne sc ent-day exhibitions. is the art
o. r'S14ng and clinching, and principally
the latter.
Amen. al promoters could learn q ereat
deaI from that hustling Australian, Hugh
N'-' toSn. WHO is now IN England arrang-
ne Tor series OF eliminating contests
among the heavies i'm that country i'm an
e'tOit 10 ind one good man if possbIe
% Heet one or moro of the best men
iro'" TINS side. Mac is stiCkIer for the
r~ies ana believes the public is entitled
?" consideration as the support of the
game tie writes me that Bombadicr
els the heavy whom Jimmy Briyf
nas taken under his managerial wing,
gives promise Of making A first. cIass
man With little more experience
Mcintosh, Man of Ideas.
One of Mc1ntosh's latest ideas in his 81
Tort tn make boxing popular with the
public Is TO circulate in the crowd A small
memoranda card. on which the spectatovi