The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-02-05
ROMANCE OF Ring
IS GONE FOREVER
Modern Boxing Lacks the
Glamour of Old Prize
fighting Days.
FIRST CODE CAME IN 1743
Drawn Up at BroughtOn's
Arena - London Rules
Came Next.
FIRST CODE CAME IN 1743
By DANIEL.

By DANIEL.
Gone are the days of pugilism.
They never will return. Gone is the
Romance which we like to believe once
was the very soul Of the ring. Some
Of that romance perhaps was sordid
enough in it's day. but all now Is
aglitter and agleam with the aurifer-
GUS coat which that master workman
Time has FURNISHED upon 1t in his in
initable way. Old timers tell us that
those were the happy days." The
Past insists that we believe that the
greatest heroes were those which it
nurtured-and with Romance persuad-
ing us we yield-but mainly as a trib-
ute to Romance Tis thus in the ring,
it's thus on the turf.
Romance beckons from the Past:
Commercialism seems to rule in the
Present. It's an unequal contest. Re-
formers will attempt to refute our
statement that the era Of pugilism has
passed. They howl from the house
tops that the thing which is legalized
by New York and New Jersey and
other States. with commissions to
govern it, is not Boxing but Pugilism
Prize Fighting. And the Past shrieks
back at them: you are wrong"
That which we call boxing is no more
like prize fighting than travel In costly
inn et te hot atc
which men made across the Mohawk
Valley on the Erie Canal with mules
as the motive power, or the trip from
New York to Philadelphia in the stage
coaches Of 1900.
We Have Lost I'm Bottom.
On the turf. In contemplation of the
rise of six furlong stars and the dis
appearance of two mile cup horses and
thoroughbreds which ran heats, we de-
clare that we have lost in bottom what
we have gained In heels. That holds
true of the ring perhaps, too. We have
lost In bottom-and In romance.
Nowadays we realize our handicaps
In the contest with the Past so we at
tempt to build Romance through artifi-
cial stimulation. We call a bout for
the boxing championship of the world
f'the Battle of-the Century" We build
the Romance around 1t step by step
through that great medium which we
call Advertising. We impress with fig
ures-a Million Dollar Battle-$300.000
for the champion. 100000 for his chal-
lenger, 100000 for giant arena-great
big figures which stagger US.
It's all settled in advance-there are
no contingencies except in so far as the
championship is concerned-and mighty
few there. The champion is to get so
and so much. win. lose or draw. The
challenger Is to get so and so much. win.
draw, or knocked out in the wink of
an eye. Men pay $25 and $50 for the
privilege of seeing this test under highly
developed and organized rules. Com
mercialism is the dominant note--here,
as everywhere else. perhaps. And per-
haps for the good. That is Boxing. It's
not Prize Fighting. Spectacular, yet al
most innocuous.
Old Spirit IL Gone.
The old spirit of the ring Is gone.
The Prize Fight was battle in which the
winner took all or nearly all. The
champion who went under lost not only
his laurels but his share Of the purse as
well. and in the old days 1t was the
which he lost. He had to make an In
vestment on his own account.
There were no promoters imploring
titleholders to accept staggering guar
antics. and picture royalties There
were no promoters throwing money at
outclassed challengers. If man
wanted a fight he had to dig up a back
er, that as late as the days of Jim
Corbett. who walked the streets of New
York until his trousers became frazzled
at the heel before he got somebody to
put up the money for him for fight
with the great John L. Sullivan.
And when reviewing the Past. the
spirit of the Past. the glamour and ro-
nance of II all. let us not forget that
as late as the heyday OF Sullivan, heavy
weight championships were decided with
bare knuckles. There's the soul OF COM
bat for you--man to man. bleeding
knuckle against bruised brawn-crunch-
ing bone against bone--no padding, no
eatiler-as mean almost as the crash
ing of the cestus In ancient Rome.
Yet They Are DeceivinG.
That was romance-bare knuckles!
Yet the battles of those days perhaps
were not on the average as publishing as
are those of this modern age of gloves.
In the old age Touchdown meant the
end OF the round, so stories OF the
battles OF old are deceiving to us of the
modern age. Men fought sixty rounds
with bare knuclSles. under London Prize
Ring rules. and were not in action for
as long a time as are boxers of 1922
who go twenty rounds. But bare
Snuclles--there's the glamour.
However. there were many long. hard
fought, stand up and knock down bat
ties in the London prize ring rule days
and in the days before the London ring
rules. when the code drawn UP by "sev-
eral gentlemen at Broughton's amphi-
theater. Tottcnham Court Road. August
16. 1743," governed battles in England.
though not the first cham
pion of England-that honor goes to
James Figg. who won the title In 1719---
really was the father OF boxing and the
first to apply scientific principles TO the
teaching thereof. Modern speed and
cieverness are said TO have been demon
strated first by Daniel Mendoza, who
reached the zenith of his career In 1889
Those rules of 1743 were the first
drawn UP for flstic combat---and they
are mighty interesting to us OF the mod
ern age. A reproduction Of the code is
shown i'm adjoining columns. Examina-
ton of the rules shows that they we're
very elcmentary---as is only natural
They relied great deal on the referee
In those days---relied on him to meet GER
III Il.