The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-05
fBy James J. Corbett, Former Heavy
 weight Champion of the World.)

I.
 weight Champion of the World.)
 Cwritten for The Evening F'armer.)
 There Is a renewed activity in the ranks of the heavy-weights that sug- gests a busy fall and winter season for the big fellows. What with Jack Johnson jumping his bail. Sam Lang ford and Joe Jeannette threatening tc hook up in the near future. and Billy Gibson. matchmaker for the big Mad ison Square Garden boxing organiza- ton. planning to stage a series of bouts to decide the white champion shfps the heavies are surely coming into their own.
 Luther 8FcCarty's death left the heavy-weight situation in rather a chaotic state. so far as the whites are concerned, and Gibson has undertaken the task of strengthening out matters With this idea uppermOst in his mind he is pushing his scheme to bring the best Of the big fellows together and have them settle the question of su- Reriorttys in the good old-fashioned way Gibson has already invited --Gunboat'' Smith, Jess Willard, Ar thur PeIky, Al Pa1zer and Jim Flynn TO enter the tournament, and will also entertain applications from lesser lights whose records entftle them to consideration-
 Hanger G1bson's elimination series premises to be an Improvement over From McCzrey's tourney of last win Her. both in number of entries and in tthe quality of the contestants. It will be remembered that Luther McCarty was --elected'' champion after victo- tries over Jim Flynn and Al Palzer. That tourney was all right as far as it went. But two of the best men in lthe division did not participate for Some reason or other. Jess Willard, l-Fho had previously outpointed Mc- lCarty 1u a ten round bout, and Gun boat" Smith. whose record gave him i9 claim to equal consideration with the three contestants, were Ignored en- tirelY- G1bson's tournament will be open to all heavies of standing, and the winner Of the final bout will have iewery right to call himself the white champion.
 ] The one big obstacle in the way of the success of the proposed tourna- tment lies in the failure of the Boxing iConnlssioners to revoke their ruling iprohfbitinE referees' decisions. Can iyou imagine a promoter trying to set tle g pugiIlstic championship under lzhs -sEsfefn in vogue in New york where the only possible way for a box CT to get credit for a victory is to Knock his man out within the ten |round limitZ He might Outpont his npponent the proverbia1 mile, but if the other fellow Is on his feet at the ffermtnation of the match it goes in
 
 contest
 As long as the -ssno-decisdon,. rule lholds good 1t would be useless to att ytempt to settle the heavyweight or iany other championship in this city. fUndfsputed champions with clear rights to their titles will become ex- i1incf if the New York scheme is adopt fed generally. Never before in the his- 1orT Of the -eport has such confusion ,existed in the several divisions of La. -Y---- -no-deciEion" bout is responsible. When refereesE decisions were permit fted 1t was an easy matter to Slft the Rad frcm the good. to eliminate the dead oness and a boxer with the goods could get 10 the top on his merits in BhortS order. Nowadays the bum Gmhter looks every bit as good as the clever one in the record books
 At the present time there are cham Ei0ns in four divisions of pugilism now -the heavy. light feather and bantam classes- And f Jack Johnson isl Through the heavyweight title will elso be on the market As the ten dency throughout the country is to limit boxing matches to six and ten rounds and 1mock-outs are naturally anfreduent occurrences in short con- fests it Is not exaggerating the con- dftfon of pugflistic affairs one iota to mredict that within ten years or so genuine, blown-in-the-bottle, boxing Champions will have ceased to exist. If Hnything should happen to prevent whe remaining title-ho1ders from en- Eertng the ring in defense of their Ehampfonships 1t Is possible they would have no successors the way things are going. Should the CaIifor- riia legislature decide to kill the twen- ky round boxing match in that state rt the next session, and a vigorous 6shf has been waged along that line for several yezrs now, boxing cham Eions would be a thing of the past as Tar as the D. g. A. are concerned
 Some day. I hope, the reaction will @et in and common sense will rule, but 1nst now the fanatics seem to have Mhe uper hand all along the line As goes New York so goes the nation, and 3f local fight followers would save the game from going to the demnition koW-wows. it behooves them to get the rest of the country.
 Speaking Of champions. Jack John sen has s-done gone and left us" Johnson did not advertise hts inten- lions of leaving the country at this kffne-no< So you could notice 1t. Now that he has successfully cvaded the Scde-n1 authorities 1t is to be hoped that he will elect tO remain in St. s-pee-sburg, or Karne1atkas or w1er- ever it is he's headed for. He cer- taknly is not wanted in this country. Johnson was a disss1cce to pugilisln | nn6 his continued presence was a menace to the sport. While in Canada last week John | con announced that he had signed to neht Sam Langford somevhere on the | true It would be a splendid thing