New Britain herald., 1915-01-16
INTERNATIONAL CODE
 OF WEIGHTS NEEDED
Revision Necessary Before Cham,
 pionShips Gan Be Determined.

When the war is over and the Deo- peaceful pursuits, it is to be hoped that one of the international ques- tions that will be settled will be that of boxing weights and rules. An in- ternational code of rules and an iron clad agreement on weights, such as cannot be set aside at the pleasure of a referee or champion boxer would be of vast assistance to the game.
 The weight question has long been discussed, but no satisfactory code has ever been generally adopted. At present the United States has one scale of weights. Great Britain an other, France another, and Australia another And all of these weight limitations are subject 10 the will of any man who has attained champion ship or near-championsh.p honors.
 Wrangling over weights always precedes every important boxing match If the boxing authorities of all countries could agree on code of weights, and insist upon their strict observance, as much by champions as by the lowlcst dubs, if would mark a great improvement in the game.
 When boxer refuses to make the specified limit of weight governing his division, he should, if a champion, be automatically deprived of his title. It is manifestly unfair to permit a champion to hold onto his honors long after he has outgrown his class, when other good boys wno can make the weight arc thus deprived of chance at the title.
 There is scarcely a champion, so called. today who will make the ring side weights which have generally been agreed upon. Kid Williams may be able to make 116 pounds ring side, but the fact remains that ho has refused to do so. Yet he Is still referred to as the bantamw weight champion, when as a matter of fact the weight most to his liking is only a pound or two under the feather | weight limit.
 1 Johnny kilbane hasn't manifested any strong desire of late to make the featherweght limit. although he still clings to the leadership of that di- vision. All Johnny needs to be right is about four pounds more than the 122-pound limit.
 The American lightweight limit of 133 pounds has been sent into the discard-by the champions, who claim the right to decide such little matters for themselves. Being a Britisher, Freddie Welsh can claim the right to fight at the British lightweight limit, 135 pounds, with some appearance of justice. But how about Willie Ritchie, who still claims the light weight championship of America, but who has adopted the British limit as being more in accord with hls needs?
 As a welterweight champion, Mike Gibbons is a fine middleweight. The American welter limit. 142 pounds, doesn't appeal to the St. Paul phan- tom at all and he is at his best sev- eral pounds above the British welter limit of 147 pounds.
 Of th> six or ten middleweight champions we have in our midst, not more than half of them can make 153 pounds ringside, and some of them would find difficulty in getting down to 160 pounds, the British limit for middleweights.
 This matter of weights needs scien- u...c study in order to arrive at q code that will work the greatest good to the greatest number Too many di- visions detract from the interest in the game and reduce the value of champion titles. Considering the mat ter in the light of the present and past history of the ring, the British weight limits seem more nearly just than those which have generally pre- vailed in America since the begin ming of the Queensbury era. A study of ring history shows that a light 1T tr hntt than 133. Two pounds isn't much but it is enough to exclude lot of
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