The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-28
weight Champion of the World. Special to. The F,armer)

pointed boxing commission of Cleve- land. Ohio, has voted to allow deci- sions when professional boxing is re- stunned in that. city. This is certainly 9. step in the. right direction at last and the commissi oners are deserving of praise for their. efforts to pu. the sport on a popular basis right from the start.
 However, Instead sof placing the power of naming the winners, and s1os- CTS with the referees the comnaissio on-, CTS have decided to appoint two judges to preside at each show and only in the event of "a disagreement between them shall ,referee be call ed on to voice his opinion While I fear that4tEe selection of capable men to act in the capacity of judges at all contests may prove a more difficult task than the members of the com mission figure on, still it is 8 move that should meet with the heartiest support feC1eve1and fans, as it will | assure a higher grade of sport than would be possible under the farcical no-deciSiou rule.
 It is hoped that some day in the not too distant future the New York commissioners will awake to certain crying needs of the sport in this sec tion-among which the decision mat ter is not the least imp ortant and urgent. For until the ban has been
 
 i sions by competent officials there will | always remain inducements for boxers i to stall; along and get the money as l easily as possi b1e. Decisions force a 1 boxer to. do his best taH times. The talk that their adoption would en- l courage gambling is absolutely silly. In New York there is just as much betting on contests under the node cision rule. as there would be if of ficia1 decisions were permitted And l in the latter event a man who wagers i a few dollars as a sporting prop position 1 than he is frequentIy handed under the so-calIed Newspaper or sspopu- lar" decision plan | By the way the New York conrnis- 1 sion has announced that it will grant I a license to the Brooklyn Sporting | Club to hold open air contests at Eb- National League ball c1ub-during the | summer months. The successful ap- | plication of the Brooklyn promoters will probably result in the establish l nent of number of out door clubs 1 and as in the case of the indoor va riety it will likely be overdone. With 1 the number of suitable parks in and 1 about the city used only as rule on Saturdays and Sundays for baseball l games local fight fans should have | no cause for complaint of a scarcity of good bouts during the warm months.
 The Polo Grounds, the home of John McGraw and his Giants, will be l out Of the running-for 1915 at least l as the. Yankees will again alter 1 nate with their National League rivals l throughout the entire summer. But no doubt some enterprising promoter 1 will develop who will seek to obviate | 1fu Inv iT7fr 1ain
 open air boxing contests by electric 1 light.
 1 Australia may, as Promoter ,"Snowey'' Baker writes, be develop ing great number of classy scrap | pers, but that country stiH remains a I fertile field for American boxers of mediocre skill. Apparently it is only necessary for a Yankee boxer to make l the trip to acquire fame and a fat
 bank roll Johnny Griffiths, the Ohio | lightweight, is the latest American to make good in the Antipodes. Grif- 1 fiths, not regarded highly henes re- gently stopped Hughey, Mehegan, Aus
 tra1ia's lightweight champion in eight rounds.
 Judging from the number of per-
 sons claiming to have obtained Jack | Johnson's signature to articles of
 
 Bangford and Jess Willard, there
 seems to be little doubt that the
 champion is going to meet some one | in the. ring before long. Which is 1 gratifying or indifferent news to
 Americans fans, depending largely on
 their color. 1 While white sports would be tickled to learn that a bout had been ar | ranged between Johnson and a white | heayyweight who had shown enough | to warrant the match,4 there is noth- l ing in the announcement of a John
 son-Willard meeting at this time tc
 cause them to enthuse over the pros
 pect of the early dethronement of the 1 negro. And as for matches between
 the title holder and Langford and
 McVea, the situation would practf-
 ca11y remain matter what the re-
 suits of the flights
 Tom Jones, who looks after Will
 Iard's affairs, recently stated that the
 big fellow would engage in severa.
 matches with the leading ( white
 Ileavies to prove his right to a matcE ] with the champion, But Jones vii
 learn that a few victories over .thir6
 raters will not bring about any grea1 j change in the public attitude towards
 the proposed match with Johnson
 What the American fans want to see
 is Willard; or some other heavy.
 eiSht-enefe IS no parIlcuIar pEeI
 erence in the matter-earn the righ to fight flor the title by meeting. and beating the best man in the division 1 regardless of color or creed. If Will lard can prove his superiority over
 the whites there will be still be plenty be plenty of time for him to tackle one of the other formidable blacks be fore going after Johnson. A decisive victory over either. Langford. MsVes or Jeannette would establish his righ as a challenger for the chanpionshiI and until he accomp1ishes that muc1 there will be no inclination to regard the proposed affair with Johnson ser icusIy. Beating a couple of third rat' sfopeS" will not enhance the Div fel