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Show LEGALIZED BOXING 1 Hill IS DEAD After IS Months of Clean Sport, Game Again Becomes Be-comes Haphazard. f ' 1 1 Special to The Tribune. BUTT33, Dec. 9. The Montana boxing commission was In Butte today to closft up its affairs and officially wind up the matters that have been before it during the eighteen months tliat the Kiley law was in operation. The commission voted to submit a report to the governor on the conduct of the game. Today the ban vas placed on several fighters for the effect it will have in eastern states, where the boxing commissions are guided ;n suspension proceedings by Montana i"ulings. "While the commission has not received official notice that the game is dead, it was announced that the commission com-mission would not take r.ny steps to try to annul the effect of the referendum vote against boxing. Commission Is Dead. Butte promoters intend to have a match December 21, as they did not anticipate an-ticipate that the official count would be made so soon. Bens or Joe Chip will be matched with some good middleweight, middle-weight, it Is thought. Word that tno governor had announced an-nounced he woVtld sign the proclamation killing tho fight game as soon as the official of-ficial canvass was made yesterday prompted promoters to have lawyers look up the statutes, hoping that another bout could be staged in Butte, preliminary arrangements ar-rangements for another match having been made under the belief that it required re-quired thirty days after the official canvass can-vass before the proclamation became effective. ef-fective. One of the commission said that body read tho statutes and found that the sport was killed when Governor Stewart issued his proclamation. Several promoters over the state were ready to proceed under the thirty-day clause. Officially the commission commis-sion is dead and whatever matches are held In the state will be free from any commission supervision and all bouts go back to the former haphazard system, which proved much less satisfactory than under proper supervision. Record by Commission. Joe Markham of Billings, a member of the commission, in calling attention to the difference between boxing not under supervision su-pervision and boxing under supervision, said: ' There is a vast difference in the conduct and promotion of bouts as conducted in recent -months, compared com-pared to when the law was fi;t in operation. The clubs at that time made efforts to put on matches, but overlooked good cards, due to their eagerness to ,i?et tho game started, and the first ' few bouts In most of the cities proved failures. However, the experience gained proved a good schooling, and the splendid manner in which all matches have been conducted conduct-ed lately can be attributed In no small measure to the promoters and the principals. In every case, the rulings of the commission and its suggestions were carried out and cooperation co-operation has at all times been predominant. pre-dominant. It has been the commission's aim and idea to point out that the public first must be considered, and tho rule to properly protect the fans has been followed closely. At times there have been rulings, suspensions and reprimands which were questioned, but It all helped to clean up the game and place !t on a good, clean basis. Some suspensions iiave been questioned ques-tioned and criticised severely, but later ring episodes outside Montana vindicated the commission. The Montana board had the nerve to suspend sus-pend topnotchers when any flagrant attempt to defraud was made. That the game is popular is beat testified by the figures recently la-sued la-sued by the state treasurer. In eighteen months Montana fans have iment upward of $120,000 to witness contests and this heavy patronage. I believe, run be attributed to the high standard at which the sport was kept. During the eighteen months the game has existed and thrived, tlie commission feels satisfied that the game was kept clean, as clean as any sport or pastime in tlie state, regardless regard-less whether amateur or professional or under auspices of individuals, school or college- |
