The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-25


weight Champion of the Worldly
written for The Evening Farmer.
Local lovers of boxing will be given
their first opportunity to see WINE
Ritchie in action next wednesday eV-
Rnfng For strange as it may seem
Willie has vet to make his metropol-
Itan debut Not that I think 1t VIII
make the champion nervous or any
thing like that, but it really DID take
him a long time to bust into the local
game
IT is through no fault of Ritchie's
however. that he has been so tardy
about exhibiting his skill in New
York Not so very long ago, When
willie was a mere sparr1ng partner
in the camp of the great Packey NC
Farland, he tried hard to get nl MAYER
here but without success AND WINE
was not looking for easy marks either.
Leach Cross was as good as anything
we had locally at the t1Tne-as ne Is
pov-and it was at the Hebrew sfhar
Ritchie aimed his challenge in par
ficuIar But, as Cross has frankly
confessed since then, he had he9rd a
thing or two about the young fah-
Tornian and could see no good reason
why he should take on what promised
&c develop into a hard job unless well
maid for it, and by no stretch o. the
EmaEination could Ritchie be agured
as = drawing card at that time.
believe Leach ducked out 81 1t by
keIIing Ritchie to $50 get a ep be-
fore asking a match with suSe IA
NOUS fighter as himself. AnC Ritchle
took his advice. Or at lea& he got
ne rem ali right. And NV things
are q bit different It was Gross who
asked for the match this tine And
re Ritchie's credit be it sad that he
was generous enough to prgive the
local man the slurs on hisreputat1on.
willie doesn't care who Re meets IN
the ring. AS long as his weight
conditions prevail and rs terms are
met by the promoters yhe champion
don't give hang wis his opponent
may be.
land that goes forPackey McFar-
land too" Willie old me AFTER
watching the ChicaPan make Tom
my Murphy look Liz boy who had
never had boxing loves on before
ssBut Packey will ave to make 1875
rfngside for me orno hight.
RiteFse does mt underrate Cross.
In fact. he has considerable respect
Tor the walIop te local boy carries.
willie saw Lean put a tough Gus
toner away q fw weeks ago-Y Dung
Brown it was-nd afterwards admit
ted that Leach can surely hit some.
@sRut.p added the champion I can
sr,,.rct some TO-" And think will
show the cowd before the ten
rounds are Ger that Leach Cross is
not the oily lightweight with a
kick"
TO Joe Rtvss, we agree with him. 1t
ought to lake an interesting bout
Cross is ras much of boxer to look
at. but hiimethods are usually e6ec-
tive TT only thing against him is
his disindnation to fight if he thinks
the othefeIlow has it con- him. Then
he coVes up and stalls the best he
can untstae ten rounds are up. He
did tina with Mcfarland and Britton
both tsse boys outcIassing him a
mile xaen it came to boxing Leach
foundle couldn't land his punch and
Tough entirely on the defensive, sat
Isfyin himself by covering up when
ever cal danger threatened.
If2itchie stings Cross early in the
7zhtft won't be much of a battle.
UnIfs the local man fights aItogeth-.
er HerentIy than in past encounters
In cal rings But if Leach should
sta on well and happen to land one
thswin make the champion slow up
q Il then Cross will show to better
nRntaee. Leach usually fights his
be battle when he gets off good; he
esoKn comes from behind.
Rivers shaded Cross here on two
passions. Ritchie had little trou-
b beating the Mexican. And in
voning from Rivers the champion
Eowed that his punching powers are
Eond to none He may be a bit
rutious at the outset, it being his first
tpearance in New York, and the
ct that he is champion and has a,
lie at stake may make him feel his
ay carefully for a few rounds But
d the dope Richie outclasses the To-
II man and look for him to win the
ecision easily. And while not antic-
5ating an abrupt termination to the
attic am willing to wager that if
snyone takes the full count it will be
ross and not the champion
Packey Mcfarland couldn't have
been feeling very well that afternoon
In San Francisco when Tommy Muir
phy stayed twenty rounds with him
and, according to the stories of the
contest, was having the best of the
milling the last few innings. Last
week Packey and Tommy boxed ten
rounds at the Garden. But it could
not be called a match. Packey sim
ply srnothered the local boy, but as
Is his custom did not deem it neces-
sary to knock his opponent out to sat
asfy the crowd of his superiority.
Z Speaking of Murphy, it appears to
me that Jim Buckley is not handling
his affairs any too we'll If Tommy
had avoided Mcfarland he could have
had match with Champion Richie
at one of the California clubs on
Thanksgiving Day or a little later in
the season Tommy was a card on
the coast and both Coffroth and Gra-
nsy. the leading promoters, were hot
after Richie to consent to a match
with him. But since that disastrou us
Ito hfnn) Mcfarland affair Harlem
Tommy viii not be In SO great de-
mand-
Buckley's fault is a supreme con-
dderce in the men he handles. Jim
Il an aggressive "ttarrier'' himself and
would just as soon fight as eat He
wanted to lick big Carl Morris the
night of that painful .tGunboat'-Mor-
ris hasco- And he thinks his two
fighters Smith and Murphy-can lick
anything in their divisions 1t SEEM
ed q foolish piece of business to run
the risk OF losing a match with the