The San Francisco call., 1909-05-06
KETCH WOULD BOX
EITHER PAPKE
OR KELLY
N aHager Willis Britt Wires Jim
COfrOfh Asking for
Match i'm July
By William J. Siaffery


A match between the winner of the
approaching Papke-Kelly affair and
Stanley Ketchel is beginning to loom as
the latest sensation in the world of
istdom. What made 1t ali the stronger
was the MESA ge which Promoter Jim
Coffroth last night received from Willis
Britt. Willis wants to bring Ketchel
out to fight the man who is returned
the victor in the approaching contest
and now it remains for Coffroth to say
the word and the match is on, for both
Kelly and Papke have their hearts set
on just this one, notwithstanding the
beatings which Ketch has given both.
Britt evidently realizes now that the
offer which Tom McCarey shot all the
way to New York was the bunk. 1t
will be remembered that the Los An
geles fight manipulation offered Britt
$4,000 for his bit to fight Sam Lang
ford in the south during the early part
of July. Naturally Britt jumped high
after this one. Now, however, he has
struck the earth again and awakened
to the realization that McCarey was
handing him an empty package.
The only difficulty about a match be-
tween Ketchel and either Kelly or
Papke is question of weight. Now
that Ketch has graduated into the
heavy weight class it may be extremely
difficult for him to make the middle
possibility that both Kelly and Papke
will be glad to allow Ketchel TO come
in at any reasonable weight in order to
get another chance a him.
An encounter of this sort would be
bound to prove a dainty morsel for the
followers of the game here In fact,
it would figure about asI strong as any
middle weight attraction with the pos
sible exception of Ketchel and Lang
ford There is no disputing the fact
that this one will be darby if it
can be brought about-and it may yet.
1t looks as though Coffroth would
like to have it for July if he can
straighten out his affairs with Bat
Ting Nelson in the meantime. Britt
says that he will match Ketchel with
Langford for that date. but at the
same time It's a two to one bet that
he h,nSr %ould Id rather rat pit his man against
against this demon smoke.
Coffroth has still another one up his
sleeve. He wants to match the win
ner OF the Coulon Monte Attell scrap.
which is to be decided on the afternoon
of June II, against frankie Neil. At
tell has already accepted and if Coulon
is willing this attraction will also
be put on the boards during July or
possibly August.
Neil. by the way. has come out with
the. claim to the bantam weight title
under the new scale of weights which
the National sporting. club of London
ton but that Nell was one of the
greatest little fighters the game has
known in many day. Where he made
his mistake was going out of his class
to fight feather weights.
There was slight switch in the I
weighing in time for Kelly and Papke |
yesterday, and after a long argument /
the men agreed to step on the scales |
in the presence of Stake Holder Tom |
Corbett at II o'clock in the morning, |
they should have made all this fuss
about half hours difference in time, !
but they did, nevertheless. 1t was
Papke's idea. Billy can make the mid
than can Kelly. and he wanted the
weighing in time changed from 1880
to noon. Kelly made a protest and they
argued it out. finally agreeing to come
advantage If there any to be gained
by either man
Papke put in a busy day at his |
training camp yesterday He went /
eight miles on the road in the morning |
and in the afternoon he had the gloves |
as master of ceremonies at the camp +
Papke weighs just $50 pounds, so he /
will not have to worry about taking /
off any extra amount of flesh. He I
Kelly also went at the grind yester /
day at Alameda. AS sparring partners /
he had Jerry Smith. an amateur middle I
weight, and Dick Hyland. He tipped /
the beam at 161 pounds, and made /
good impression on the fans who /
watched him work Kelly will train
for a rough fight this time in the /
hope of scoring an. early knockout.
Johnny Murphy, the local light |
weight. will leave for New York Sun
lay night to try his hand at the game
IN the big village and all other eastern [
towns where he thinks there is +
chance. Johnny had several offers to /
,os east and finally fell. He expects to
catch on quickly and will issue chal-
enges to Leach Cross. Johnny Frayne,
Packey Mcfarland Freddie Welch, or
anybody in his class.
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