Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1912-04-21
If NOT RIVERS, who THEM
Question in Regard to the Rights in
the Lightweight Division.
AID w0LGAST COMING BACK SLOW
willing to Start Easy, and Mt That
s Joe Has the Better Call ON
the Match with the
Champion.
BY w. w. NAUGHToN.

etAN EAA<i-NSlslos 1RIh -l--Jot
Rivers. the Los Angeles novice. is to gst
the first crack at Ad wolgasts cham
pionship and all the other lightwelghts
and near-lightweights are up in arms
about him.
-Ad wolgast picked an easy mark. f"
say the dlsgruntled ones. He should
have hooked up with some fighter. who
stands better with the public"
All right But who, for instance?
Is there any one among the light
weights. who stands head and shoulders
above his fellows as the illogical OPP
ponent'' OF woigast?
There are probably a DOZEN so-called
~lp Founders who think themselves en-
Titled to match with woigast or these
the four that loom up the most proml-
-nently are Packey Mcfarland, Matt
Wells, Freddie Welsh and Knockout"
Brown.
= Mcfarland and Wells are tarred with
the same brush. Neither Of them can
afhe title. and there is too much at stake
for to grant them any concessions In
the matter Of poundage
: Freddie Welsh is an Invalid at present.
He reports that he Is fit for service
again. but In view Of the manner IN
which he collapsed couple OF times
while In training. the promoters do not
fesard him as gilt-edged risk.
= Knockout Brown. who began his
career suspicIousiy. has performed SO
sstreakiiy during many months that there
Is no public clamor fora wolgast- Brown
fight. True his hackers keep advancing
his claims. and. for that matter seem
willing enough to wager heavily ON his
chances. but not even the sporting critics
of his own New York are evincing any
excitement over wolgast's studied cold
ness toward Brown.
Here Is the case In a nutshell: The
lightweight situation is in such a shape
that whoever brings wolgast to the ar
ficle-signing point Is, the one best en-
titled to fight the champion. And Rivers
Is the lad.
At that Rivers Is lucky. The average
lightweight has TO bear the heat and
burden OF an extremely long day; the
hooks and wallops OF many a bitterly
waged battle. before he Is In line for a
whirl at the title Here. however, Is
youngster. who is going to signallzc
his entry into the lightweight class by
striving for the highest honors.
There may be a measure OF truth in |
the contention that Woigast preferred |
Rivera to some OF the others. Ad has |
seen Rivers train and fight a number OF |
times. and II stands to reason the cham |
pion would not have been 30 ready TO |
sign the Los Angeles articles II he con-
sidered the Mexican youth the most dan
gerous OF the bunch.
But even II wolgast set his cap at
Rivers who can blame him? wolgast
underwent severe ordeal a few months
ago and fully recognizes that he must
feel his way back into the game very |
carefully.
-->This thing Of champion being oper-
ated upon for appendicitis Is a new one
and no one. can, tell what the effect upon
Wolsast's fighting speed and strength |
viii be. IL Is far different from return
Ing TO tho huriy-burly OF fisticuffs after |
being laid Off some time with a broken
arm. In that case the injury is purely |
sf~@', ""~toa WIN Niau VIM mas Dtcn
under tho knife the whole system is az
fected.
have heard old trainers OF track men
say that an appendicitis operation will
make ten-second man a second slower
and this practically means that Il will
transfer \ clever Splinter into an ordinary
one. Such being tho case II Is within
the bounds OF possibility that similar
experience may convert champion into
q dub
Rivers Is great little ring man--one
who shows Improvement every time he
&oxes-but under ordinary circumstances
Il would SAVIOR Of forcing matters to send
HIN against q pugilist Of wolagst's cali
ber at the very start OF his lightweight
career.
But those who want TO figure out the
chances OF this bout win have TO ignore
the ordinary methods OF reasoning. The
main thing to speculate on is whether
Wolgast minus his appendix. and after
months Of building up. Is the same COM
pact bundle OF fighting machinery he
was before he was forced to submit to
the surgeons knife. II Ads training
sSssests that he has rounded to all right
ne VIII be a top heavy favorite over
Rivers II there is any doubt about tho
matter It will be bleak outlook for the
champion. In Rivers he will find a
yssngster who punches rapidly. aecur-
ufeiy and with good force and who
knows to dot when to crowd on SAIL