Omaha daily bee., 1912-01-07
dde WolgaSt from the Hospital Talks of .Aspirants
ny W. w. NAUGHToN.


SAN FRANCISCO. Jan 6.-Seated In
his bungalow az Venice by the sea. sport
ing "a smoking jacket that was palpably
a Christmas present and putting at a
cigar which also seemed 10 cxhale the
spirit of the season when men evlnce
their good will by making exchanges Of
merchandise, Ad Wolgast talked OF the
future OF his craft. Being now an in
valid, the champion has plenty Of time In
which TO chew the cud Of reflection and
watch the ebb and flow OF lightweight
affairs.
His period OF enforced rest is not max
! ing Wolgast impatient. Ho talks calmly
and philosophcally OF the outlook but
deplores the dearth Of capable material
/ I'm his class.
"Funny thing about the lightweights
lis that there are 80 many men with 40
little to choose between them" remarked
Wolgast Just look at saylor and
Mandot and Hayes and Baldwin and
Brown and Benell and Murphy. why, It's
simply toss up which OF them Is the
best
ono Round Hogan, shades all these
fellows" said Wolgast, after a pause. IL
believe hc is going to give me more trou-
bic than any Of them. When he first
came out too much was expected Of him.
He was fresh from the ranks Of the four
FOUNDERS and he knew nothing Of the
angles OF the professional game. Now
he Is showing Improvements right along
Look what he did TO Knockout Brown
and look how he handled Bat Nelson
Mind you. think II was "A great showing
Hogan made when he was held down 20
weight and the Battler was allowed to
come in Weighing what no liked
Among the new men. Mandot, in my
opinion. ranks next 10 Hogan Grover
Hayes Is a has-been. lie was fair man
when 1 first began boxing, but he has
faded away Anyhow he was always too
big for lightweight"
How about Freddie Welsh" Wolgast
was asked.
~ VIII tell YOU" he said. Right now
| am rather dubious about Welsh's draw
Ing power. ! feel that the showing he
MADE with Willie Richie injured his repu-
tauon. OF course. did not see the fight. !
but many have told me that Welsh Tell
short of expectations Right now my
own opinion Is that / could draw a bigger
house with Welsh than with any Of the |
other lightweights and for that reason 4 |
someone else while I am laying up and |
does as poorly as he did with Richie. | /
Will not count on him fol an opponent. OIL
course, IL tho promoters pick Welsh FOR
me and come to my terms, It will be aif-
ferent"
Wolgast looks upon Knockout Brown as
a phenomenon who lasted but n short
time. ts
Il am sorry that fellow escaped me-"
said Ad. HE didn't escape altogether at
that. because l gave him a pretty good
the last time we met. l al
ways looked forward, though, to trimming
him completely, but now he mas been
wiped off the map"
Are you overlooking your old friend.
Packey McFarlandg was asked wolgast.
mot at all, but no one seems TO take
Packey seriously now" said the cham
pion. HE is fellow who encounters
heaps OF bad luck and II seems unlikely
TO have anything to do with him. just
look at that affair at Milwaukee. Bat
Ting Nelson used to speak OF me as a
cheap guy who never made much money
by fighting, but II that Milwaukee affair
had gone through, ] would have made
more money over that ono battle than
Battling Nelson made with the best two
OF his career.
II had 5000 coming to me from the
small picture signs which were TO be hung :
around the arena and $4,000 from two
beer signs that would have doomed up in
the moving pictures. Is II any wonder / |
look upon Paokey Mcfarland as picture
OF bad luck? We may got together some
day at that. but from the way things are
going at present l don't think Packey
viii remain with the public long enough