The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-11-08

weight Champion of the WorId)
 Especial to the Farmer.)
 New York, Nov. S.-It looks as if New Workers will have that long de- Iayed slant at Willie Rftchie on Mon day evening next Unless, of course. the unexpected happens again and one of the principals in the Ritchie- Cross match is rendered hors de cond- bat within the next forty-eight hours With election over and everything in a business way running smoothly again there should be a manner crowd at the historic old Garden to see these boys perform. rather fancy that the receipts will be large enough to satisfy even Leach Cross hunger for the old mazurna.
 don't say that the in1pend ding cleo ton and the hurrah attached to it, which always spells bad business for theatres and other forms of amuse- ment, had anything to do with the lpostponernent from the original date. Nothing like that. Just the same it was a fortunate happening, from a. financial point of view, that Leach sprung his bum rib at such an oppor- tune time. At the lowest calculation the change in date will mean a diff ference of many thousands of dollars in the box of1lce.
 As to the probable outcome. Of the bout, my readers know what think. To my way of sizing up the men the champion outclasses the local light weight. While I have never seen fRftchie on the job except in training quarters have watched Cross mum Der of times, and if he can beat will lie the latter is a poor specimen of the genus champion. And a boy who can beat Ad Wolgast and follow it up can Joe Rivers is good enough for me to string with-and for you, too, read CTS who are speculatfvely inclined.
 There has been lot of junk in the papers about Cross deadly wallop. I don't think it will bother Rttchie very much That is. if Willie is half as good as he looks to me in his pre1irn- lfnnry work Opposed to boxer with anything like class in his makeup Cross has newer succeeded in landing that famous punch press agents for the coming bout have been ravfng about Where was the mighty wal lop when Leach was-~aboxing Jack Brfttons or Joe Rivers, or even Young Jee Shugrue who was little better than a novice at the time he fought Cross. Not to say anything about that deadly punch the time Leach boxed Packey Mcfarland.
 If Croas has such a terrible wH11op he must have ntslaid it on those oc- casions. True, he beat Joe Afandot. but Joe had already shown signs of decline as a boxer. A short while before he had met Rivers and was beaten a mile. Then, too, Leach body now knows the latter should have been on the operating table tn- stead of in the ring. Really, Cross wonderful record of s'k. o.'s'' is start ling, and will not be surprised if the champion enters the ring Monday night so scared (?1 he will hardly be able to put his hands up.
 If the bout does not go the ten round limit imagine it will be Rftch- lie who wins with a knockout. Of course. may be wrong. I have been before but have deep root ed idea that Cross has been very lucky in many of his battles and, if Monday nights affair is strictly on it's merits, I look for the champion to come home an easy winner.
 I had a little chat with Ritchie a few days ago. Willie talks of the Gross bout as though it " ere to be an exercise canter for him. He does not boast, but anyone can tell by his line of conversation that he is confident of beating the tooth-pu11er.
 The champion plans a very busy winter season In addition to the Gross affair he is figuring with local promoters for bouts with Jimmy Duff been coming along very fast of Iate and with Jack Britton and Freddy WeIshs the British title-holder. Sev- eral clubs have made offers for a RitchAe-FFeIsh match, but it is doubt full if either boy will consent to fight in any other place than the Garden where the chances for getting big money are about five times as great as at any other club in this nefghbor- hood.
 That ruuch-taIked about Rftc11fe- Mcfarland match is off for all time, I guess There doesn't seem to be a chance to bring those slkillfu1 boys to- gether. Pacley wants the match at 1S5, weigh in on the afternoon of the contest, while the champion holds firm for 135 rfngside. Ritchie says he will not concede another ounce to his fornaer employer, and does not ap- pear to be the least bit disappointed that Packey refuses to make that
 My idea of the last thing a light weight champion would care to do would be to box Mcfarland.
 Talking about Jimmy Duffy, that clever youngster outboxed Young Shugrue up in Buffalo the other night. While Shugrue's manager claims that the newspaper decisions favorfng DuHy were not justified by the showing of the men, we have no alternative than to accept the verdict as handed down by the members of the press in the upstate metropolis It may be the critics were a bit pre- ludtced in favor of their townsman- such things have happened before but that's part of the game as it is conducted by the Boxing Commission Ers-
 As said in this column last week there iS bound te be a great d4S1 of &sssatisraction as long as the rule pro- hfbitfng referees decisions is in force. %he only solution to the present rot- ten system of judging bouts is a rule authorizing arbiters to name the win- nerR and 1ozera