Evening star., 1927-08-30
BY BENNY LEONARD,

Retired Lightweight Champion of the World.
NEW YORK, August 30.-The latest
rule promulgated by the New York
State Athletic Commission. the one
lowering the belt line" will have at
least one good effect-it will encour-
age boxers to fight for the body"
AS a rule, boxers naturally sock only
for the head, and they don't ever think
of trying for the body until they are
tired. It is largely because of this
that fouls occur. -,ft.,r ...r4t
Now with the fighters encouraged to
hit for the body, it is only reasonable
to assume that the boxers will land
body punches right from the start.
and this will make for better fighting
in the long run. For not only will it
teach our fighters to use a body at
tack, but il will cause them TO rer-
feet a defense against this kind of
an attack, and therefore they will
become more versatile ring men.
At first you might think that
body attack would cause more clinch-
ing, but I do not think this will e
suit. On the contrary. think it will
mean more "open" fighting, for now
a man will realize that If he goes into
a clinch his opponent will bang away
at his body, and because he can hit
lower, and hurt more, the man on the
defense will have to use footwork to
keep away rather than resort to hold
ing in order to avoid punishment.
Star Boxers Favor Rule.
The move by the New York boxing
solons l regard as a good one. Nest
of the boxers with whom I've had a
chance to talk-that is, the boxers of
recognized ability-are in favor OF the
rule. It will tend to do away with
foul fighting, or what has been in
some cases enormously called foul
fighting, for the referees will not be
so prone to call foul whenever a ston-
ach blow, or a perfectly fair one in the
abdomen, is struck.
For the benefit Of my readers who
are not familiar with the new ruling.
il is in effect that the belt line shall
range from an inch above the front OF
the pelvic arch, or pubs IN front, and
on a line with the tops of the pelvic
bone at the sides" This means that
the belt line. or foul line" is lowered
about an inch or so at the sides under
the regular waist line and about
3 or inches in front.
1t leaves the abdominal area all in
fair territory, whereas heretofore
practically all Of this territory was re-
garded as the foul area" by most
referees.
This is the first time the foul line
has been definitely fixed by the COM
mission, and it is good for the game
TO have this definition. 1t will do
away, as / said before, with the ques-
tion mark in fouling.
Helpful to the Officials.
officials now will no longer have to
differ as to whether a blow is foul.
Much Of the difficulty heretofore in de-
termining whether blow was fair or
foul arose from the fact that judges
and referees sometimes differed in
opinion as to what was foul.
Three men would see a low land
at the same spot, and while ole would
rule it foul the others might think
it was fair. and vice versa. Now all
they'll have to do is see the punch
land and their verdict will render
itself, for the punch in the abdomen
which before many would have ruled
foul will have to be called fair.
While all this will make for better
boxing, 1t also will make the racket"
harder for the tyro, or beginner. lie
viii have to master footWork, a thing
that l am sorry TO say has of late
been passing out Of style in our rings.
fighter must do one Of three things
step back out Of range, block with his
arms, or else beat his opponent to the
punch with a straight wallop hard
enough to knock him back out of
range. This last thing is the most
difficult, as a rule. so that l expect
to see the young boxers taught 10
step back and then come With a
counter attack.
This latest ruling Of the eommis-
sion win have a beneficial effect on
training also. Now, fighters who
expect to fight in New York rings
will have to train so as to strengthen
the muscular walls Of the abdomen.
They will have to be able to take it"
in the body, and this will be good for
them. They will have to spend more
timee in training, and they will have
to actually learn something about the
game. Too many youngsters have
Tbeen trying to fight who know very
little about the rudiments Of the art
of self defense" @4kz4A4A-a- e z3-te