New “Safety Code” For Boxing Aimed At Ring Injuries

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30216, 22 August 1963, Page 18

New “Safety Code” For Boxing Aimed At Ring Injuries

(N2. Press Assn.—Copyright) MIAMI BEACH, August 21. The World Boxing Association decided yesterday on major changes in its safety code aimed at protecting fighters from injury and preventing deaths in the ring, Associated Press reported. Among the new rules adopted art the W.B.A. convention in Miami were:

The ringside doctor was given power to halt fights whenever he decided a boxer had taken an unduly severe battering or was in danger of serious injury. He would order the time-keeper to strike the bell twice to end the fight. The mandatary eight count after a knockdown is to be applied to all fights. Boxers knocked out in two successive fights or twice within three months would be suspended for six months. Any boxer who was knocked out would be suspended for

60 days instead of 30 as at present. The bell will not save a boxer from being knocked out, except in final rounds. The count will continue if a referee is counting over a boxer when the bell goes. The W.B.A. also decided that there should be four ring ropes instead of three. The ropes will be 19. 32. 46 and 54 inches above the floor of the ring. The rule under which a bout is stopped if a boxer is knocked down three times in one round, will apply to championship fights in future, the association decided.