Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1914-01-15
NEW FIGHTING RULES
Boxing Regarded as a Staple
Sport in Australia.
Everything Pertaining to Pusilism
Thrashed Out Thoroughly and
Many Evils Of Pastime
Rectified.

Reetified.
That boxing is regarded as a staple
sport in Australia is eyinced by the
fact that a conference of sporting au-
thorities was held in the City of sgd
ney for the purpose of framing rules
beneficial to the game. writes w. w.
Naughton in the Chicago Examiner.
A certain degree of eclat was lent
to the occasion by the presence of H.
D. Morton, speaker of the legislative
assembly, who opened the proceedings
and then vacated the chair in favor of
II. Y Braddon.
Everything pertaining to glove fight
ing was thrashed out thoroughly, and
many of the evils of the pastime, as
Australians saw them, were rectified
when the conference got down to franz
ing rules. AS many of the new regula-
lions will be of interest to American
pugilists who intend trying their luck
In Australia, a digest of the work of
the conference may not be out of
place.
The new scale of weights runs as
follows:
Bantam, 118 pounds; feather, 1876;
lightweight, 1876; welterweight, 147;
middleweight, 100; mid-heavy. ITS;
heavyweight, any weight, which pre-
sumably means any weight above IT'S.
In all contests in Australia weight
H. ~ he ~
is explained that this means within
one hour of the advertised beginning
of the contest"
This is an entirely new construction
ut ringside weighing, by the way, and
II will burn more quickly into the
intelligence of American ring men
when it is told to them that they must
weigh zone hour before"
Here is an interesting rule framed
by the conference:
THE Australian championships shall
be contests boxed in Australia, and
where a boxer from another country
having a ~ months residential quail
fication defeats an Australian in an
Australian championship he shall only
be the holder of the championship
while resident in the country, and on
his departure the championship shall
revert back to the previous holder"
This may or may not have been
worded thuswise at the suggestion of
the Land Settlement League of Aus
tralia, but anyhow it is explicit. You
can't bring Australian championships
away as souvenirs.
In many other respects the new
rules follow the lines of the old
Queensberry regulations, the latter be-
ing extended and amplified to suit
Australian requirements.
The five-ounce glove of pugilistic
commerce is discarded for the six
ounce mitten, and the number of Sec
onds in mans corner is limited to
four. These henchmen are forbidden
to coach, assist in any manner adj
wise their principal during the rounds
or enter the ring during the progress
of a contest. By offending against
these rules they will cause disqualifi-
cation of their principal by the
referee"
Contestants are warned against hit
ting in clinches, and a clinch is de-
fined as a condition which exists when
both men are holding with one or
both hands"
Infghting is tabooed, and it is left
to the referee to determine what con-
stitutes infghting. Such being the
case, 1t will be as we'll for boxers to
engage in match to interview the
referee before tearing loose.
Here is how q knockout is defined:
"A knockout shall be counted (a)
when a contestant is knocked down
and is not on his feet ready to resume
boxing in ten seconds from the time
he is knocked down, (b) when con-
testant's towel is thrown in while he
is taking the count, (c) should con-
test be stopped by the referee or any
official owing to a contestant not be-
ing considered in a fit condition to
continue as result of punishment he
has received
There was quite an argument as to
the referee should hold court
in the ring or outside of it. Finally,
by small majority it was decided
that the referees place is where the
blows are flying thickest, and that it
Is wrong to have him propped up on
a bench like a British justice of the
peace.
1t would be as well for American
pugilists afflicted with the wander
lust to study these rules, for the ex-
cuse Il didn't know" does not hold
In Australia.