New Britain herald., 1914-07-25
Corbett Pufs K. Q. Oper 0n
 Referees Wh0 Nnke Rules
Over in England and France, We Learn, Third Men in the Rings Go By Regulations Adopted and
 Printed in Black and White.

(Written for the New Britain Herald.) New York, July 25.-In the maze of contradictory dispatches from England retailing, according to the views and prejudices of the senders, the story of the Carpentier-Smith very well form any sort of intelligent
 opinion of just what did happen in
 that unsatisfactory contest. One ac-
 count had the Gunner sending the
 Frenchman to the floor in the sixth
 round with a right swing to the jaw;
 another said it was a body punch, and
 still others that Georges fell to the
 floor when he missed vicious lunge at the Gunboat's jaw, losing his bal ance from the force of the blow
 However, every one now seems to
 be agreed that the Gunboat did hit
 the French champion blow on the
 head while the latter was on the floor whether from the force of a punch or his own clumsiness-and it Is also the unanimous opinion of the scribes, since they have had time to think it
 over, that the blow while technically tier, and that the referee in justice
 to principals, their packers, and the crowd could have ordered the men to
 continue without totally ignoring the code of rules.
 Americans are just beginning to realize, in the depth of their despond- ency caused. by the Welsh and Car
 pentier victories, that boxing bouts elsewhere are really governed by the rules. In this country it has become
 the custom during the past decade or so for the average referee to make the rules to suit himself and his em- ployers. The referee of the old days who made the boxers live up to the letter of the law as laid down in the
 book has disappeared entirely George Siler was one of the last.
 Charley White, another who had nerve enough to enforce the rules, is for some reason (best known to the gentlemen) passed up by present day promoters.
 Nowadays the referees are hardly more than figureheads. Foul after foul is committed in the average con- test. and the offending boxer gets away with it, usually without com ment by referee press or public. When the Marquis of Queensbury rules were created they were accepted by the authorities of the ring at that time as a welcome and agreeable sub- stitute for the London prize ring
  it was agreed that their enforcement would mean the elevation of boxing to a scale higher than ever before in it's history-and that science would predominate, as it should, in all matches of the future.
 But in these degenerate days in this country the crowds want decisive re- suits, and by that mean they wan, to see boxer stop his opponent and are not over particular as to the means and methods employed. And the crowds are catered to. If referees obliged boxers to really box accord ing to the Marquis of Queensbury rules at least ninety per cent of the present day crop would have to be- gin all over again. There Is not score of boys in this country who ac- tually know the first rudiments of the game as it should be played.
 Therefore Americans are i'll pre- pared for, and do not relish, decis- ions such as Referee Eugene Cor ri rendered in the Welsh -Ritchie and the Smith -Carpentier bouts. In our country boxing matches are not often decided on trifling tech nicalities as is the case in England France and Australia. Had Smith and Carpenter fought in San Fran cisco, for instance, and the same identical thing had happened, prob ably no attention would have been paid to the Gunner's infraction of the rules.
 Eugene Corri is a thorough sports man. And in England sporting mans reputation means more than it does here. There is not the slight est doubt in my mind that Mr. Corri did exactly what he judged to be the ence had anything to do with the de- cision in the Smith Carpenter bloom l CT, as some have insinuated. How ever, it is my opinion that in justice !, to everybody concerned-fighters, public, promoters, and all interested l he could have stretched point 1 and ordered the men to continue when he found that Carpenter was not injured by the blow. It would have been the popular and sensible thing to do even though it meant l ignoring a breach of the rules.