The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-06-16
NY. BOXING PROBE
COMES AFTER BETS
ENSNARLED SPORT
BIZ FRANK @. MnNKr

By FRANK G. sIEaNxE
Scandal runs amuck within the box
ing game in New York.
1t is charged-again and again-that
"sure thing" gamblers have made ire
mendous cleanups on various fistic
bouts during the last year.
William A. MuIdoon, chairman of
the New York state athletic commits
sion. is conducting rigid investiga-
ton" The action of Mu1doon now,
sincere and honest though it may be,
Is highly reminiscent of the fellow
who locked the barn after the horse
was stolen.
1t is most peculiar that Muldoon
and his entire commission have been
closing their eyes for nearly year
to the wide open gambling which has
existed within practically every New
York City arena on fight nights. Any
ordinary reasoning power should have
convinced them long ago that
gambling has no part in honest sport
and they should have acted then to
crush the octopus before it ensnared
the sport.
| Garden during the season just closed
could be ignorant of the fact that
+, gambling was conducted on a massive
scale within the historic arena. In a
room which serves as a sort of bar
room, any stranger could wander in
at any time and get bet on any bout
| of the night. There was ever present
at least a dozen or more persons who
! VIC rot o. IN Irya hrs
on the bouts.
| Solicited Bets
/ But the gambling wasn't confined
solely to that room. Even while bouts
were in progress, men would rush
around the ringside attempting to
solicit bets. They would hawk out
their odds and their offers and at
tempt to have spectators cover their
bets with the same tenacity Of purpose
that a salesman employs in hand
me-down" clothing store.
What's true of the Garden was true
in practically every other club within
the Greater City. Gamblers were al
ways present. So was one or another
member or representative Of the com
mission. Those fellows must have
known exactly what was going on, un.
less they wandered around with blind
folded eyes and ears stuffed to a
point where all sounds were clouded
from hearing. Yet they stood by and
said nothing.
1 And, in the end, gambling gripped
and ensnarled the sport
| Whether or not decisions have been
/ purchased" by the most powerful Of
, gamblers so that they could mulct the
, sucker" public is something which
Muldoon is now attempting to ascer
tain. The fact that the commission
has repeatedly switched referees ant
: judges, has dropped others, and now
. is keenly on the alert for anything
that seems suspicious, would indicate
J that it is working on the theory tina
/ some of the officials cooperated-
probably for a ompensation-witl
the gambling element.
Queer Decisions
: It is a rather well established fac
Z that through many months some of thu
: most weird decisions possible have
5 been handed down as a result of some
of the bouts, especially those within
: Madison Square Garden. The singu
lar feature is that on all such occa
/. sions the winner has been the NAL
who carried the Smart money of tn
big gamblers and that the loser wa
: the fighter who got the play from tn
{ suckers"
z 1t is possible, of course, that Mul
2 doom and his commission, through tn
: summer, may clarity the atmospher
t and may bring about 100 per cent fai
: and honorable conditions That woul
] protect the sucker" public in tn
future.
But the lack of a1ertness on tn
$ part of the same commission certainl
: has cost the average ring spectator
who assumed that the game was o
the up-and-up, countless thousands c
dollars during the indoor season whic
faded into history with the adven
D of June.
Copyright 1921 BY King Features
Syndicate, Incl