view raw text
Want Illinois Legislature To Investigate Title Bout SPRINGFIELD, 111., May 19 UP .—The Illinois legislature was asked today to investigate last Friday nights heavyweight championship bout between Rocy Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott. State Reps. John B. Monroe and Paul A. Ziegler introduced a resolution asking the legislature to creat a 10 -member legislative commission to investigate the fight. It was referred to the house executive committee for study. The commission would be empowered to call in the two fighters, their handlers, the promoters, doctors and all other officials connected with the fight "for the purpose of ascertaining the facts.1 "All sports-loving Americans were shocked and dismayed by this fiasco... which ended in an inglorious first-round knockout under circumstances that have cast a dark shadow upon the reputation of the fistic sport," the resolution said. The resolution said fans who paid "fabulous" sums for seats and those who saw the fight on television "were unanimous in condemning the fact that such a contest was foisted upon an unsuspecting public." "The general assembly has a definite responsibility of insuring the integrity of athletic contests held within the state,", it said. The commission would report its findings to the legislature by June 20.