New Britain herald., 1915-01-16
INTERNATIONAL CODE
 OF WEIGHTS NEEDED
lIontinued from Eighth Page.)

the best lightWeights we have had. And the same is true of most of the other. divisions British boxing au- thorities have had much less trouble In enforcing their weight provisions than those of America, because in caNh division the British weights range from two to five pounds nigh CT than the American.
 But whatever weights are finally agreed upon, the decision of the in lernational authorities should be hnal. When d boxer outgrows his weight, he should not be permitted to make a new limit to suit his con- venence but should go into the next highest class.
 For many years champions have sssGnpsidered it one of their preroga- to put up the bars against dan gerous challengcrs by insisting upon a. aaweight that would make the chal- lenger less dangerous. Whatever varia ton the titleholdcr insists on, whether up or down. is naturally al- ways in his favor.
 Many attempts have been made to agree upon a standard of boxing weights. The sporting writers as
 
 Jeffries battle got together and agreed upon a standard somewhat different from that then prevailing, but their suggestions were without effect. American and English boxing author ities have made several attempts to get together on this question, but without any real results. The Amer jeans were quite willing to nave an gpfn ia la r n6 a based on the weights in vogue on this side of the Atlantic. And the ~ ~"eunservative'' Britishers were equal lys willing to agree to the British standard as a basis.
 One point, all American fans will concede, the British have the best of us Tn England the champion of each division becomes the holder of the Lonsdale belt, and he must de fend his honors within six months of receiving a challenge or give up his belt. On tA.s side a champion may refuse to fight anybody but third rate dubs, and still hang. on to his title for years When he gets a chal- 1enge from any fighter likely to prove dangerous, all he has to do to eyade the issue is to insist upon inl- possible weight conditions and de- mand a guarantee of as many thou sands of dollars as he thinks will prevent all possibility of the match being made.
 We have had some champions pos sessed of sufficient professional pride to defend their titles against all com CTS, but they have not been particu- larly numerous of late years. If boxing is to survive, it must be Continued on the basis of sport. When any sport takes on a purely mmercial aspect, it is a goner Baseball has been on it's last legs seV- eral times because the packers of the game have been too rapaciOus, and have permitted the public to get next to the fact that they were in the bus1ness for the revenue only. And VOL. know what happened to wrest- ling. Not so many years ago the mat game had hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic devotees all over Amer ica. and England. Now a wrestling match is usually considered as joke, and the man who pays good money to see such a contest gets the merry ha-ha as being a, sucker. Y ct wrestling is a great sport, one of the oldest in the world, and, when con- ducted on the square, provides enough thrills to keep the spectator sitting on the edge of his seat. Crooked methods put wrestling on the blink, until now it is almost dead. Unless boxers are given to understand that they are engaged In a sport, governed 6t~hard and fast rules, boxing will go the same way as wrestling.