Evening star., 1943-01-17
War Lu|| in Ring Might Be Boon,
Says NBA Heod, Seeking Unity
Green Would Take Advantage Of Chance
To Stop Bckerne and Split Control

cred history Of this embattled sport.
BY the time the boys start rolling
home from the big fight, those that
like boxing for participation or as a
spectator sport would get a produc-
ton of guaranteed wholesomeness
because it would be directed prop
erly.
This is not intended as a ref1ec-
ton on boxing's governing bodies as
Of today, because, in the main
throughout the country. I have had
opportunity to meet and know that
men of high quality and ability oc-
cupy places as commissioners.
But just as the day of interna-
tional isolationism is dead, so too
has the time passed when boxing
can be supervised properly on the
purely sectional basis of State SELF
ishness. New York needs the box
ers developed in San Francisco, Chi
cago, Waukegan and Oskaloosa.
These and sundry other cities need
the boxers from New York.
BY the same token, one single
State commission no longer can pre-
sumo to set itself upon a self-erected
pedestal and operate on the premise
that 1t is The Great Am" What
If the rest of the country were to
gang up" and ostracize New York,
for instance?
Cover Lot of Territory.
Most of the current world cham
pions are from wayside stations.
Joe Louis is from Detroit; Gus
Lesnevich, the light-heavyweight
ruler, from Jersey; Tony zale, mid
dleweight king, halls from Indiana:
Sammy Angott, who retired light
weight champ, but Is returning to
the ring, is from Pennsylvania: and
Manuel Ortiz, the .NBA bantam
champion, is from California. Where
would boxing be if each State lived
within its own boxing shell?
Boxing has made tremendous
strides in recent years. The Ma
tional Boxing Association, with Its
membership of the vast ma jorities
of commissions in this country,
Mexico, Cuba, England, Hawaii,
Venezuela and other places, has
brought respectability to boxing
ratings, and, by its earnest and
sincere classification of boxers has
enabled them to attain position and
standing because of ability rather
| than by commission dictum or man
agerial influence. 1t has sought sim
cerely to eliminate farcical dual
championships and 1t made tre-
mendous strides in that direction.
But the sport needs more than
this. 1t needs the strength that
comes from a genuine unity backed
up by the cooperation of the vari-
Gus commissions, including New
York. With such potent punch
there never again would be need
for repetition of the spectacle of a
| former lightweight champion gall
avanting and carousing around the
country; there would be no Harry
Bobo boxing in another State when
his home State (Pennsylvania) had
barred him after its commission was
informed by competent medical ex-
animation that his sight was i'm
paired there would not be. one
bantamweight champion for Al
States and another for New York
New York Conceded Priority.
A contract-jumper in one State
would be an offender in every other
State. Out of this unity would come
better fighting all over the country
and better break for the fan.
We concede to New York the
| priority on much of the big boxing
action Of the country, because New
York is the mecca and the goal to
which all finally strive. After all.
there is only one Madison Square
Garden.
But you don't have to kill the
goose to get the golden eggs. Nurse
the bird along, and it'll turn out all
the nuggets New York can use and
leave an abundance for the rest of
the country.
Boxing does not need Federal leg
islation. What 1t needs is a httle
less selfishness, copious dose of
American cooperation and less
minor generals making their own
rules and their own champions.