OCR Text |
Show WBAThreatens Clay's Crown NEW YORK AP The move of the World Boxing Association to strip Cassius Clay of his heavyweight heavy-weight title may lead to a "big, big mess." ED LASSMAN, president of the WBA, said in Miami, Fla. Sunday that Clay's personal actions has made him a "detriment to the box- ing world" and that he was polling the WBA's 20-member executive committee to declare the title vacant vac-ant Lassman said that only 11 votes were needed and that he expected expect-ed to announce a "favorable vote" Friday. The champ hlmself-or-Muham-mad Ali as he prefers to be called call-ed - countered with the assertion that "they're going to cause a big, big mess all around the world." Lassman's action, virtually on the eve of Tuesday's opening of a Senate boxing probe in Washington, surprised pugilistic circles almost as much as Clay did in dethroning champion 'Sonny Liston in their title bout Feb. 25 at Miami Beach. Liston failed to come out for the seventh round, claiming an injured shoulder. CLAY, who has acknowledged that he is a member of the Black Muslims, a Negro supremacy group, claims he is "the saviour of boxing" and is not a "poor example for the youth of the world" as Lassman contends. Should the WBA declare the heavyweight title vacant, it would be unprecendented. In 1959 the WBA .then known as the National Boxing Association, lifted Sugar Ray Robinson's middleweight title, but that was because Robinson did not defend within a stated time. |