Boxing Is Not Regarded As ‘Killer Sport’

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 March 1950, Page 2

Boxing Is Not Regarded As ‘Killer Sport’

. MELBOURNE.—The boxing man-ager-trainer Ambrose Palmer, and Edgar Tanner, secretary of the Victorian Amateur Boxing and Wrestling Association, declared last week that boxing was not a “killer sport.” They were commenting on a claim by a ’ New York sports writer that boxing was a “killer .sport,” and that personal injury was its main object. The writer urged larger gloves, shorter fights, a closer check of fighters’ records, and more thorough medical exams. Said Ambrose Palmer: “Boxing is hard and tough, but not a killer sport. More people get killed in America through football and speedway riding than in boxing. To reduce fights from 12 to 10 rounds i would only mean that the boxers I would go at it even harder. Admittedly, regular check-ups, say

every six months, would minimise chances of injuries in the ring.” Tanner said that Australian referees stopped bouts at any time they thought fit. There was no more danger in bqxing conducted on the right lines than in any other sport. Fighters who looked like becoming punch-drunk had been refused fights at the Melbourne Stadium. The boxing writer Merv Williams claims that, .generally speaking, fighters in Australia are becoming a race of softy-pants. Te says they want a lay-off of months between fights and either can’t or won’t stand up to the training grind that • fighters revelled in 25 years ago. I It’s no wonder, Williams adds, I that there are so few drawcards and promising boys on the way up. The fighter toughened by hard training and regular ring contests seldom shows signs of wear' and tear —unless he stays in the game too long. Williams winds up by saying that the general standard of boxing in Australia has seldom been lower than at present. I [ln 1949, 18 fighters lost their lives l in the American boxing ring, according to the magazine Ring.]