Omaha daily bee., 1915-07-04
TALK OF ORGANIZED BOXING
Tom Andrews Makes Tour Of Coun.
try Boosting for Control
Of Game.



NEW YORK, July 9--Judeing by the
number Of responses received by ToR
Andrews, the Milwaukee promoter and
boxing authority, who has been making
tour of the leading boxing centers In
order to enlist support for his scheme Of
national organization of promoters to
control the sport. something more than
empty talk Is likely to come Of the move
ment.
While in this city recently Mr.. An
drews said that he had preached the mat
ter to the local promoters and all were
In favor Of the idea and had promised
to lend their support. The aim of the
proposed association Is to regulate the
class weights. fix q time limit during
which a champion may hold his title
without defending 1t and in particular to
do away with the practice Of giving guar
antees. Some of the leading promoters
who have promised to cooperate in order
to further the objects set forth are:
William Gibson. James johnson, Harry
Pollok and John weismantel OF New
York, John McGuigan and Harry Ed
wards OF Philadelphia, Miah Murray of
Boston and Dominick Tortorich of New
Orleans. These men. who comprise prac-
tlcally the whole field of promoters SO
far as important clubs are concerned,
have promised to attend a meeting dur
ing the month Of August for the purpose
OF adopting the necessary rules and reg
ulationH.
Beyond doubt II the promotion OF box
ing could be put on a business basis as
base ball Il would be Of great help to the
sport. While the various state boxing
commissions are doing good work there
are many matters that do not come
within their Jurisdiction. The present
scheme IL one that has been discussed for
many years. Nothing ever came OF It,
however, principally because the Cali
fornia promoters ridiculed the idea. The
fact that California with its twenty-round
battles enjoyed a monopoly OF champion
ship matches gave the promoters of that
state rather inflated opinion of their
standing and they refused to collaborate
with the despised purveyors OF the round
events. Now that California is out of II
the promoters are all operating under
similar conditions and the plan looks to
be more feasible than ever before.
That the elimination Of guarantees
would would tend to protect the public
as we'll as the promoters always has been
admitted. Guarantees have even been a
menace to the sport. One result has been
to drive out many OF the most respectable
promoters. who have been unable to make
ends meet because of the grasping
methods Of the boxers. On the other
hand the system has made 1t possible for
irresponsible persons TO make promises
that they could not fulfil when the gate
receipts fell short OF expectations AS q
result the boxers would refuse to per-
form and the clubs patrons were forced
to be satisfied with rain checks" for
some distinctly inferior show. provided
they were honored at all.
In the long run the boxers also would
benefit II all promoters refused to grant
guarantees. as in that case such men as
William Gibson and Tom Andrews, who
are honorable enough TO make good a
loss out OF their own pocket. would be
more plentiful. And boxing needs men
OF their calibre.