Petitions soliciting undergraduate support for the return of boxing as an intercollegiate sport at Harvard will be distributed today in the College and the I.A.B., the Student Committee to Promote Boxing announced last night.

Boxing was given up as an intercollegiate sport in 1938 after a brief eight-year career at the College. Although no major Eastern college at present sponsors a boxing team, four universities last night expressed a desire to re-establish the sport in intercollegiate competition if they could find opponents.

Committeeman Matthew W. Botsford '57 said yesterday he believed "if Harvard would take the initiative and produce a team, other colleges in the East would quickly follow suit."

Another member of the Committee, Frederick H. Joseph '59 added that he has already sent a letter with the proposal to Student Council president Edward M. Abramson '57.

A feature on page three relates the short history of intercollegiate boxing at the University.

Massachusetts Boxing Commissioner Henry N. Lamar, University Boxing coach since 1931, yesterday agreed with Botsford that if a college like Harvard in the East did reinstate boxing as a team sport there might eventually be enough competition to form an Ivy League in boxing.

Lamar added, however, that he was not considering filing any petition himself to the Faculty Committee on Athletics.

Faculty Committee Meets

The Faculty Committee, which meets early next month, may already be considering a discussion of the return of boxing as an inter-collegiate sport, it was learned yesterday.

Another of the University's boxing enthusiasts, John M. Bullitt '43, assistant professor of English, added his support to new student Committee's work.

Bullitt, a former Massachusetts State Champion and New England Champion, said he "would be delighted if Harvard's Committee on Athletics were to establish boxing as a minor sport again."

The four Eastern colleges who present- ly sponsor separate boxing clubs include Dartmouth, Syracuse, Cornell and Virginia. Last month Virginia and Syracuse sent out questionnaires to several colleges which formerly supported boxing teams in order to determine if the sport could be revived as intercollegiate competition.

Coach Lamar said that, in addition to these four Colleges, he had also received a letter of inquiry from Yale. He added that M.I.T. might also be willing to pick up the sport again.

Others on the undergraduate Committee are John E. Canning '56 and Anthony T. Murray '58.

Boxing was first instituted as a minor letter in 1930, and in the next five years, the team developed into one of the coun-a tie with Yale marred a perfect record. try's most powerful squads