The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-29
OPEN AIR BOUTS SHOULD BE
 ALLOWED IN NEW YORK STATE
Corbett Says Gunboat Smith-Youn Ahearn Bout Would Have
 Been Huge Joke
fRy James J. 6orbet4, Former Heavy weight Champion of the Worldly a

IfRy James J. Corbett, Former Heavy weight Champion of the Wor1d.)
 Especial to The Evening Farmer New York, Auf 29-The Brooklyn 1 National League Baseball Club has not
 made much money this summer and | it's president, Charles H. Ebbetss is I trying to break into the boxing game | by promoting open air bouts at Eb- l bets Field It is understood that for nal application for 8 license has been made to the Boxing Commission and that the members of the commish l have ask ed the Attorney General for a
 new opinion on the legality of per- hitting bouts in the open. Some time ago. when the Frawley law first be- came operative, the question was put to the authorities and was vetoed. the contention being that the law speci- fed boxing matches should be held l within four walls. Now the question l whether the grandstand and blea.cherS at Ebbets, Field constitute a Sbuild- ing is to be asked of the states legal advisor.
 Outside of the fast that Charles IT.
 Ebbets is interested in this particular
 enterprise there should be no objec- 1 tion to boxing shows in the open. Eb-
 bets, who has been tonted in the pa pers as a game sport and in the fight l to the finish against the Federal l League is the first major league own |
 A minor league owner, Jack Dunn Of iBaltimore. beat MT. Ebbets to it by a. | whisker only. Dunn got out of the l hole by selling his star players to the
 major 1eagues; Ebbets broke the fall 1 by turning over his park to an a-nuse- rnent enterprise at night Evidently he Is not satisfied. with that deal as he is now seeking a boxing. franchise l However, if Ebbets gets a premit,
 others no doubt will be given the same privilege. And it would be a good thing for the sport everything
 considered. The people have made it plain to promoters that they will not l pay to see boxing bouts in stuffy larenas even when theADontests are of the classy sort. In other localities l boxing is all the year round sport In San Francisco and Los Angeles nearly all the big matches are held in the open. Of course. the climate on | the Pacific Coast permits of that sort of thing eleven months out of the l twelve Here the weather begins to I get sshet up's along in May as a rule and continues pretty warm through 1 iSepteTnber. Nearly five months could Ebe utilized in the proanotiDn of fhe toutdoor game, and it would certainly frneet with the approval of the fight I fans who do not relish the idea of I passing up their favorite sport be- cause the bouts are confined to stuffy and smoke laden arenas.
 By all means let us have open air ! boxing. While it is e. bit late to in .I troduce anything startling in open air l perforrnances this year, the announce I nent that the Commission will permit Ioutdoor bouts will give local promot- Iers chance to skirmsh about and make. suitable arrangements for next
 summer.
 The worlds championship baseball T foS is moi IOctober.s The fans turn out in great numbers to see those games. Imagine I how Iibera11y the public would pa Itronize a match between Willie Ritchie and Freddy Welsh, for example, held l at the Polo Grounds on sunny Satur- I day afternoon along in Septennber. | The Polo Grounds seats something like l 10000 people. A promoter would reap I a. rich reward on a. classy bout at pop
 ular prices and the fighters would get
 more for their shares than they could except if Madison Square Garden were l crowded at $5 and $10 a smash.
 New Orleans is now numbered l among the few fortunate cities where 1 twenty round boxing matches can s.be
 held under legal supervision. Promo I ters in the Crescent City are making preparations to stage number of
 championship battles during the com
 ing Fall and Winter seasons. The first |
 fered under the new law, while not for l a, title. is pretty close to it and the
 winner will be given match with the l champion of his class later on in the I season Eddie Campi. the fast Cali fornfa. bantam, and Kid Herman, the
 New Orleans boxer, will figure in the
 first twenty round bout to be held in
 New Orleans in many years.
 1 The Southern city promoters are
 nothing if not ambitieus. A return match between Freddy Welsh and
 Willie Ritchie is to be attempted by i, D. J. Tortorich, one of the most enter I prising of the fraternity Totorich s1 says he will outbid Jim Coffroth and Tom McCarey when 1t comes to g { showdown and that New Orleans vii
 get the match if it is held in this
 country.
 One thing is certain. New Orleans
 is an ideal place to hold a champion
 ship match. The long ride to and
 from California does not appeal te . those dyed in the wool fans who hate l to let one pass without being on the
 ground. San Francisco will draw
 sports from all over to see a, heavy ] weight championship match, but New Orleans will get them for titu1al
 matches in any of the several othe1
 divisions
 The revival of the twenty-round bou . with referees decision in Eastern ter
 ritory is a great thing for the sport E Without decisions. interest in the spor
 diminishes. Without them there s nt = such thing as a championship battle a That great battle between Gun S boat Smith and Young Ahearn, Grea A BritaSn's newest candidate for cham & piinship honors, has, I notex been of T f1ciaIly called off. Just as well prob
 ably for the sport in England. If & New York promoter Suggested such V match the papers would nominate hin Fl for the foolish factory stakes.
 Young Ahearn was always a brett. x shifty sort of boxer He could stel E 1 around the ring at lively gait, bu # unless he had a sucker who dfdn' S know what to do with his hands hi U great sneed and .a.s:litv didn't srat hin