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i On Second Thought I Probe Tale Done In Wrong Tense By BARNEY NAGLER NEW YORK N Y May 5 The way the day started out it could have been dull The only possible news might have concerne of the International Boxing Guild or fight managers bund tow ¬ ard the new television contract at Eastern Parkway rena in a lofty phrase who cares Then out of the black and blue there came Jimmy Cannons half supported story of an investigation of a fightfixing ring in New York It produced such fun How droll drollThere There was for joyous example the word from District Attorney Frank Hogans of ¬ fice So far as this office is concerned the story is completely false falseAnd And there was the pallid statement out of chairman Bob Christenberrys state athletic commission office The meeting mentioned in a newspaper column today took place approximately two months ago The information that the New York State Athletic Commission had was discussed by chairman Christenberry with representa ¬ tives of the District Attorneys office officeAt At first glance Cannon was hoist on his own story sometimes known as a petard but in truth he wasnt Cannon simply went a bi ttoo far in the wrong tense He said and we quote the opera ¬ tions of a national mob of crooked gamb ¬ lers organized to fix fights horse races and basketball games today were being investigated by District Attorney Hogan and the state athletic commission un ¬ quote quoteCorrection Correction please Neither Hogan nor his office was investigating anything There was a time two months ago when Chris ¬ tenberry foregathered at his inn in Times Square with two of Hogans magnanimous aides and discussed the report that a bet ¬ ting ring was operating in boxing boxingHarry Harry Markson the International Boxing Clubs man in charge of ethics had come to Christenberry with word of the rumor Christenberry who is first last and and always a man concerned with aseptic sur ¬ gery reached for his phone called the D A and arranged thec onference with the two operatives from Hogans alley alleyThe The discussion produced nothing in the way of practical evidence not even a lead The D As office dropped the entire matter because of the press of other matters mostly more important and there the case rested until its pastpost revival by Can Now sir was Cannon stepping into an ink well while trying to keep clean Not in the least His story and all such stories serve a worthwhile purpose Theq tend to retain ambitious hoods within their normal pursuits whatever they are They impress on the fixers the fact that there are some in boxing who will not stand still for phony fights fightsMind Mind you there arep hony fights Know ¬ ing this as a general fact is simple Pin ¬ pointing a fake bout with the white light of sound evidence is another matter Not one fighter has ever been indicted for en ¬ gaging in a fake fight in New York Ctate Whether a true bill has ever been returned against a dishonest combatant elsewhere is not known here It is doubted doubtedBoxing Boxing is populated with halfsmart toug guys who are accustomed to being pushed around by the law They clam up under the slightset inquisition Tipsters are not available because the fixes if any are engineered by men who find their way in the darkness of scheming schemingThis This is not so in other sports Kids playing basketball as in the case of the scandal of 1950 are not accustomed to fancing with the law Once confronted they broke down and told their stories Even baseball men have confessed to ac ¬ cepting a few bucks to drop a few balls The pro football scandal of some years ago disclosed that grown men in short pants with cleats on their feet can be made to talk Fight men dcnt dcntIt It may come to pass some day that a young man perhaps disillusioned by too many punches on the nose and too few bucks in his kick will step forward and blueprint a fix When this happens some ¬ body will be caught with his hot little hands clutching too much ice Until then however the fight business will stand ac ¬ cused but not indicted indictedIts Its tough to gett a true bill on a wrong racket
