Salt Lake Telegram | 1907-03-08 | Page 9 | Thinks Boxing Needs New Rules to Preserve it as a Manly Sport

NEW ESULES TO PRESERVE IT IS A f IfiPlLY SPORT Philadelphia writers credit Tom Mccarty, Mc-carty, matchmaker of the Los Angeles (OaL) fight club, -with a plan of "de-brntalizlng" "de-brntalizlng" prize fights by revising soma of the old rules and Inventing some new Ones. Then they suggest the following reforms: "To shorten the bouts to six or ten rounds; to increase the size of the gloves; to eliminate the gambling features fea-tures as much as possible; to provide for such a system of rendering decisions deci-sions that each fighter in a contest will be given full justice; to so arrange the classes that equals will meet equals, and only equals; to so control the decorum de-corum at a boxing exhibition that the rowdy features will be eliminated and the entertainment be acceptable to the better class of patrons. Hard on the Kelsons. J'Sueh action would change many things in the boxing line. It would put a premium on science and do away with the Battling Nelson class of roughhouse fighter. Nelson's great stamina alone makes him of championship class. Hundreds Hun-dreds of fighters can hit as hard as he and are more clever, but they can not absorb the punishment. Therefore, they are defeated." All this is very fine, but it seems hard to believe that a man of McCarey's knowledge, and judgment in such things should allow himself to give voice to any such " reformation. 'r It would be better. to do away with boxing altogether. alto-gether. The man who pays to see prizefights prize-fights goes to see knockouts. No matter how genteel a man may be, when he goes to see a fight he wants to get his money 's worth. . Gambling Features. ' If the gambling features are eliminated elimi-nated it will be next to impossible to fet good men to fight, for when they attle they want to gamble, and the heavier they gamble the better they like it not so much by betting, but by taking a chance to win the bigger part of a purse. That such rules as the Quakertown scribes attribute to McCarey would be to the detriment of the game is shown by the little interest exhibited in boxing box-ing shows where the men wear eight or ten-ounce gloves. There can be but one result when two men evenly matched, or anywhere near evenly matched, box with heavy gloves, and that is a tiresome tire-some draw. So the reformers had better bet-ter think up some more feasible reforms.