DIRTY GLOVES.

NZ Truth, Issue 978, 23 August 1924, Page 11

DIRTY GLOVES.

Do They Cause Blindness?

Less than a year ago Kid Herman, who once held the bantamweight title, was stricken with blindness- writes Robert Edgren. Recently, Packy O'Gatty, a featherweight, announced that he had retired from the ring as a result of- the effects of an injury to his left eye, sustained while boxing- at an. exhibition with Jack Dempsey two years ago at a theatre. There is food for reflection m those announcements. What brought about the trouble? Was it blows that injured the' optic nerve, or was it dirt and germs on the boxing gloves? The gloves used m £11 the bouts at Madison Square Garden are new. But the same thing cannot be said regarding the gloves used at other clubs, except those used m the main eVent. In nearly every instance the gloves have been used m many sessions of boxing. In small clubs, it is the practice to collect the gloves and then throw them into a corner where they remain until the following show. They are then handed to the preliminary fighters. '■..' Those gloves, once they are taken out of their original covering, are never cleaned. The nearest approach to it is when a boxer slips and touches the floor with his gloves. He then wipes them ofl!, on his fighting trunka, that may or may not be smeared with water and blood, before he resumes boxing. That is the only attention the gloves receive. , ,'./•■ Many of: the gloves used are m an insanitary condition.. A great number of them are veneered with . blood. Throwing them on the floor after a bout does not serve to cleanse them. The result is that they pick up germs. if a boxer is cut during a bout tttose germs find a nice place to nestle In. The aftermath means infection. Many of the gloves used at the various gymnasiums where boxers congregate and do their training stunts border on a filthy condition. If a boxer happens to have his eye cut from a glove m that kind of a condition it means infection.. . . 1 A boxer who escapes is indeed lucky! But a boxer does not hfive to he cut during a bout to become a victim of those unsanitary gloves. If. by any chance his physical condition is ; at a low ebb' he is susceptible to suffer m some way 'from the thousands of germs lurking m the dirt of the gloves. All clubs that stage boxing should furnish either new gloves for every bout,, or/the gloves should be 1 treated antiseptically before being passed over to the boxers. It should be the duty of the inspectors appointed by the commission to inspect each glove carefully 'before it is handed to a boxer. At most gymnasiums there are showers for -the use of the patrons. As a general thing boxers take a shower before they are rubbed .down or don their street clothes. But m many of the smaller . clubs where boxing is held there are ho showers. The result is, that many fighters leave the clubs without first taking a thorough cleansing. Many of them go through the process m .a purely perfunctory fash* | ion. ■ .'.. '•. ■ . : ". ' . ■ ; ■'.. This matter of forcing the club officials to i provide clean and sanitary gloves and shower baths should be one of the first moves of the state atheltic commission. Clean gloves and clean bodies will go a long way toward eliminating the chances of infection during bouts.