19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

BOXING: BOILING MAD
Sirs:
Charter member, boiling mad. It's bad for my health. Reason: Just read Bill Rosensohn's article about the "back of the scenes" game in boxing (Plots, Schemes, Sabotage, SI, Aug. 10). How long can it go on? Thieves have taken Joe Louis, Beau Jack, Johnny Saxton and thrown them on the street when they had no more use for them.

Everybody in the Western world wants to see a rematch between Patterson and Johansson. Are we going to let a couple of characters who have no business to be in any legitimate business block it? I hope Johansson lets them stew till next summer but, like millions of others, I hope he remembers Floyd Patterson is the guy that took that right and deserves another chance to outbox it. And when we have the fight, I hope Charley Black, Velella, Kahn and their ilk aren't allowed in the park.
R. L. MURPHY
Chicago

Sirs:
Such business monopolies and tactics as practiced by the D'Amato gang have in the past been most unpopular with our Justice Department.

It seems to me that Ingemar Johansson, or some European successor, could keep the title locked up for years in his disgust with American fight promoters.
C. G. CRAVEN
Needham, Mass.

Sirs:
Congratulations to you for getting my wife interested in sports—something I couldn't accomplish in the last four years. But this Rosensohn-D'Amato-Black-Velella thing has got me hotter than hell.

I can't understand why the boxing commission allows wolves in sheep's clothing to take over the boxing game as they do. No one man controls football, basketball or hockey, so why should D'Amato think he can become the Little Caesar of the boxing world? It is a shame that such a wonderful athlete as Floyd Patterson has to be associated with the likes of D'Amato and Black. Do these people think that money can buy the glory of the young Swedish champion or the heart and guts of a great fighter like Carmen Basilio? Things like this cannot be bought with money; they have to be obtained through hard work.

I can understand now why everyone in the know is saying: "It is the greatest thing that happened to boxing when Johansson won the title."
JIM BARSOTTI
Sanger, Calif.

Sirs:
From what I have read in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, Cus D'Amato's name might just as well be James Norris. I used to admire both him and Floyd Patterson very much for the good I always thought they had brought to boxing. Now I just admire Floyd.

If there is another side to this story, I would like very much to hear it, but right now it looks like he is just another black eye for boxing. I would very much like to believe otherwise but right now I don't.
JOHN T. JERRARD
Oak Park, Ill.

Sirs:
With regard to the Rosensohn picture on page 18 and the Grosscup picture on page 74 of the August 10 issue, please advise whether: