El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-19

neither Joe Rivers nor Leach
CToss strengthened his position ss 49,
sue successor TO Richie. lfghrU-eieEt
JiS 800 49, IoFloed, Of course, the bows
10 "a tnelr best on that occasion 80
wise Luz thinking otner-
vas disappointed in Rivers per-
e--Cs' M mes Joe and Leach boxed
Ii me uTst time the Californian came
IKE WlhrlWind the last r0und N. 49,
and at the finish had the Iocsi 49,,
IN PAD shape 1t looked as III he "a
sOAteQ Cross's style, and vOu1d show
~ DSLtef advantage in a return battaI.
. - - OIaDte impression was further
sttens Jnened by his impressive defeaf
OF knockout Brown As II fnr5ef
~ zoe was barely able TO earn a
slsae on Cross in the second starr.
rALsAouSh While Richie has not been
f-o-I ms NJ since winning the title
-LOl- al " olgast on a foul there 81
no QouDt Of his ability as a boxer
ne mas several cOrking perfOru1arces
70 ms credit, which quite outshadow
eHs INNS either Rivers or Cross has
s-oHA 70 cate. among them a four
round win from Jack Britton q
pCp1Ia5 verdict over Young Erne.
ana 20 round lose" TO Fredd,-
elsn' which was probably his most
DI--Lla lI achievement all things con-
sldereo, not excepting the winning 81
the ute. 1t viii be remembered that
IN tne Welsh bout Richie. then a com
paEatiVe novice, "subbed" for WoIgast
ana tOoE the bout on As hours nofice
part Of which time was speDt in raw
les.
Joe Rivers is only a kid in years.
barely u, and may eventually develop
class enough to give Richie a stub
DOIAt arg lInenL de did, in fact, show
a slight Improvement in cleverness in
the last Cross match, but has q great
oea1 10 learn before he can hope 10
rank with the champion in point OF
shlli cross, however is a veteran
compared with the others and can't
De expected TO improve. He is as good
now as he can ever hope to be. While
tflIe better than the average
lightweight Leach is some degrees
short of championship form.
II Ritchie and Rivers meet on the
Fourth Of July tse champion should
be returned the winner by a safe mar
gin. 1t should be no great task for
clever performer TO solve Riverss
style IN a few rounds. The latter's
only hope in such a battle would aD-
pear 10 rest in the possibility OF land
ing lucky punch, and he would
nave 10 be lucky to put one over on
the champion
II further proof was necessary 10
convince the New York boxing COM
missioners that referees decisions
ought to be allowed the Rivers-Cross
bout furnished plenty OF it AS usual
IN important matches the newspaper
critics were divided on the question
Of which boy was entitled to the de-
cision. I don't believe there was one
who called II a draw Some said Rivers
won all the way. while others main
tanned that Cross earned the verdict
This is a decidedly unsatisfactory
state of affairs It is unfair to the
boxers and unfair to the public. Rivers
and Cross might pull off a dozen 10
round bouts in New York and no mat
ter how they resulted, unless termI-
mating in knOckOuts, they would all go
down in the record books as 80 de-
cision" contests. The public pays lib
orally TO see boxing matches and wants
a winner for its money, when pos
sible to pick one. The only way out
of the difficulty is to clothe the ref
erees with power TO render decisions