The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-03-01
HOWL GOES UP
ON NEW RULES,
RING AND MAT
Public Riled by Proceed
ure in Wrestling and
Boxing Trays in N. Y.
ny DAVID j. WALSH

NEW YORK, Feb. 2S. - That
raucous blat you hear rolsterlng
down the right OF way Is neither the
echo of street riot nor the annual
convention OF happy hucksters sing
Ing the national anthem. You may
discern n note OF pained and in
credulous surprise in tho general
bnllyhoo, but that doesn't mean
"Fatty" Arbuckle has been elected
president or that some gent has had
tooth pulled.
IL is merely the af'ronted citizenry
passing the time OF day on the box
Ing and wrestling rules under which
these sports happen to be laboring
here at the moment.
The country at large constantly Is
sending its best boys on to New
York rings because the money and
prestige are here. Gay Gotham Is
supposed to be tho center OF the
boxing and wrestling industries, but
II matters do not look up pronto
both Will awake one OF these fine
mornings to find themselves dead,
which II no way to find yourself.
what Rules Require.
The present boxing code calls for
a composite decision by n referee
and two Judges. The latter are not
popular, and no matter who occupies
the judges chairs their decisions
are decried as being the handiwork
OF men stricken prematurely blind.
At the Britton-Shade champion
ship bout recently Tommy Shortell,
once n prominent fighter himself,
and Artie McGOvern. who conducts
the judges chairs. Both might be
looked upon as qualified ring jurists,
but after they called the bout n
draw popular opinion condemned
them as incompetent.
II therefore narrows down to a
question OF what may be deemed the
more acceptable verdict. the popular
or the judicial. The spectators
thought that Britton was given the
worst OF Il in receiving "A draw, yet
II Is a matter of record that Britton
didn't receive n single vote, Shortell
and Referee Patsy Haley voting for
a draw and McGovern for Shade.
'Tis Mysterious, This.
All three are practical boxing
men. How, then. to account for the
fact that they failed to realize
mat BrlttOn was SuppObeu "
have made Shade look like a novice ?
Also. what OF the story given some
circulation that Shortell first voted
for Shade and then changed his de-
cislon because, 1t was alleged, n
member OF the boxing commission.
standing behind him, clucked his
tongue in astonishment?
These incidents are cited. not TO
prove the incompetency OF judges
but the fallacy of the law in expect
ing the public to accept decisions
with better grace because three men
render them instead OF one. Indeed
the old system. OF referees decisions
never received the storm OF protests
that greet the triangular verdict.
A return TO the old system seems
preferable. particularly since Benny
Leonard declined to carry his title
into n local ring for more than a
wear, and Johnny Kilbane hasn't de-
Tended his fcatherweight crown here
since the Smith Brothers stopped
shaving. Both are presumed TO have
feared the worst.
AS for wrestling. they have In
augurated n dlstasteful feature
known as the trolling fall" Its CHIEF
virtue Us found In the fact that II
shortens the bouts. Otherwise It Is
particularly abortlve TO those spec
tators who pay their way In to ac'
tunlly see man thrown.