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Calls for Federal Probe of Boxing Lawmaker Charges That Mobsters Haye Muscled Into Pro Fistic Ranks By FRANK ELEAZEK United Press Sports Writer WASHINGTON, D. C, June 22. Rep Thomas J. Lane D-Mass. charged todaj that "mobsters have muscled" into professional boxing and called for a Congressional investigation to determine whether it is a sport or a racket. The lawmaker said "it would seem" that boxing should be brought under federal regulation. "It is no secret," he told the House, "that this popular sport is under the tight and all-powerful control of a few men who run the game to suit themselves with little regard for the boxing commissions in the several states." Xane urged the House to give a House Judiciary Subcommittee "specific instructions and adequate funds" to check into all phases of professional boxing. He said, "only an aroused public opinion can save the sport for the boxers and fans." Lane said the "most recent tip-off" on the sad plight of boxing came when Gov. George M. Leader suspended the sport in Pennsylvania for 90 days, "following the strange circumstances surrounding the Johnson -Mederos contest." Refers to Johnson-Mederos Bout He referred to a nationally-televised bout in Philadelphia last May 6 between light-heavyweights Harold Johnson and Julio Mederos. Johnson collapsed and there were preliminary reports that he had been drugged. "The Pennsylvania Athletic Commission conducted an investigation, but has not yet announced its findings. Lane said, "the best of fighters and managers will confide to you that the boxing business would not look too good if it had to stand up to An investigation. . . . Fighters and managers who are on the level dont like the set-up, but what can they do about it? "As audiences, through the medium of radio and television, have become national instead of local," he said, "it would seem that this professional sport should be subject to federal control since it has failed to regulate itself. "Monopolistic drives, to put it mildly, have sewed up the game," he declared. Lane said new boxkig talent has a hard time breaking into the "closed circuits" of the big cities. So many people get to own a "piece" of a promising young fighter, he said, that he resembles a commodity rather than an athlete. Lane said he believes professional boxing "should answer to a searching investigation that will expose every hidden combination and influence."
