The Alaska citizen., 1912-06-10
BY W. W. NAUGHTON.

Wolgas''s championship and all rae . other Hrarwsichrs, and near light weights are up in arms about f. . "Welgas, has picked an easy , mark" say the disgrun,lsd ones. He should have signed some fighter aho stands better with the public"
 All right But who, for instance?
 k there any man among 'hs light weights wao stands head and shoul- der, above his fellows as tle "logi- cal opponent" for WolEast?
 There are probably dozen so- call,d 123-pouuders who think ,hem- selves entitled to a match with Wol- easr Ot these the four who loom Hr rhe most prominently are Packy Mcfarland. Mat Wells. Freddy Welsh and Knockout" Brown.
 N FarlaHd and Wells are rarred with t1c same brush. Neither of r.em can make the weight al which Wo'sast won the title, and there is too mUca ar stake Tor Ad 10 grant them any concessions in inc matter nf panndage.
 Freddie Welsh is an invalid al rre-rat. He reports that he is fir for service again. but in view of he manner in which he collapsed a couple of times while in training v. promoters do not regard him as a gilf-edge risk.
 Knockout" Brown. who began his career a0spiciousIy. has performed so s'reakily during many months that ,lara is no public clamor for Woleas'-Eeown fieh.. True, his hackers keen advanaiug his claims. and, for Ina. mater, seem willing .nough 10 wager 6c9yily on his chances m, Hor even ehe sporting critics O: his own New York are ev'nejng any eNc5 emert over Wal "ast.s studied coldness toward Brown
 River Lucky 10 Get Chance.
 Here is .he case in nutshell. The l'ehtWetght situation is in such shape taa' whoever brings Wo,gaS, 10 Inc arricla-signtns point is The one hes. cn'i1ei 'o fighr the champion. And Rivers is the lad.
 A that Rivers is lucky The av. eras lightweight has ,o bear the 2eat and burden of an extremely long day; The hooks and wallop, of many bitterly wared battle be fore he is in line for whirl at the title. Her. however. is Eoungs'er H1o is going 10 sfenalfze his entry into 'he 1ghtwaight class hy striving for no highest honors.
 There may be a measure of ruth in the contention that Wolgast pre- fcrred Rivers 10 some of the others Al has seen Rivers train and fight number of times. and il stands 10 reason the champion would nor have been so ready 10 sign fhe Los An gslcs articles if he considered the Mexican youth the most dangerous of the bunch.
 But even if Wolgas set his cap al Rivers, who can blame him? Wolgasr underwent a severe ordeal a few months ago and fully recognizes that he must feel his way back into the game very carefully.
 This thing of a champion being operated upon for appendicitis is ne" one, and no one can ten what the effect upon Wolgasts fighting speed and strength will be. l. is far different from returning 10 the hurly burly of fisticufis after being laid off some time with a broken arm. In that case the injury is purely local, whereas with man who has been under the knife the whole system is affected
 l have heard old trainers of track men say that an appendicitis oper- atiOn will make a ten-second man a second slower. and this practically means that il will transform a clever splinter into an ordinary one Such being the case. il is within the bounds of possibility that a similar experience may convert a champion fighter into dub.
 Is WoIgast as Good as Before?
 Rivers is a great little ring man one who shows improvement every time he boXes-but under ordinary circumstances il would savor of forcing matters to send him against pugilist of Wolgast's caliber al the very start of his lightweight career.
 But those who want to figure out the chances of this bout will have to ignore the ordinary methods of reasoning. The main thing 10 spec ula'e on is whether Wolgast. minus his appendix, and after months of building up, is the same compact bundle of fighting machinery he was before he was forced to submit 10 the surgeons knife.
 If Ads training suggests that he has rounded to all right he will be a topheavy favorite over Rivers. If there is any doubt about the matter