The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-06-14


championship of the world will take
place July 4 between Willie Richie and
Joe Rivers. Richie will be the de-
fender, Rivers the offender
Somehow the question Of lightweight
supremacy has always been surround
ed with a glamour all its own. Nc
Govern, Britt, Nelson, Cans, Wolgast,
RitChie-these are names known to
many folks who are ignorant of ban
tamweight titles. middleweight titles,
welterWeight titles. Featherweight and
heavyweight battlers also are remem-
bered. but when the lightweight charm
piOnShip is about to be settled then it
is that the laity begins to sit up and
take notice Hence it is that interest
in the coming battle between Ritchic,
the champion, and Rivers, who hopes
to be- will be watched by followers in
the fistic world not only in this cOun-
try but abroad.
Steadily. one may say almost silent
~, Jose Rivers has been coming. No
one dreamed that the little Latin
American boxer who scored victories
over such unknowns as Billy Capable,
Reb Corbett and Martin Leaby back
in 1910 would continue his rise up
through the featherweight class until
he was to meet the champion light
weight Of them all three years later.
He didn't look the part at the time,
Rivers didn't. And there were many
who thought his career mere fash
in the pan. a flash the last glimner
Of which was snuffed out irrevocably
when Johnny Kilbanes famous one
hundredth blow September 5th. 1912,
laid him low at San Francisco.
He's done" said the wise ones.
He'll never come back
But Rivers fooled them. Each fight
taught him something, 10 matter If it
was victory or defeat. The few bouts
he had with Freddie Welsh were of
great benefit to him for they taught
him how TO battle in the clinches.
This was shown most remarkably in
his go with frankie COnley January
lst, 1911. at Vernon, Cal. Nor has he
refrigerated one iota in this respect
since.
His footwork is good, Rivers being
one of the few men in the game who
than is necessary. By this means he
avoids any dancing master style and
reserves his strength for the pincaes
which are bound to come sooner or
later
Experts figured. however. that the
boy was weak in feintinE True, ~
was. but no man has tried harder to
remedy the defect since il wcs first
pointed out and if the same judges who
made the statement could see him now
they would be surprised ~ the strides
he has made
Best of all, Rivers has a wonderful
physique And he's game. That could
be seen in his bout with Ki.banc when
after being sent 10 the floor with
lightning succession Of rights and IefJs
before which no man could stand, he
exerted every effort to rise and when
his strength refused TO com" TO his
and his glazing eyes PIared defiance TO
the Cleveland champion until con-
seriousness left him
Nor must Richie he forgotten.
ola
has few to whom to bow in the way
Of superiority. lie showed il decisive
~ in his fight with WOlgaSt when he
took the lightweight 'belt from him.
And success hasn't turned his head
by any manner of means.
Ritchie's right name is Gearv Steff-
en-. He was born IN 1891 in California
which would put his age at twenty
two. Ritchie never dreamed he would
become q champion. He Always had
thought being a good chauffeur, with a
steady Job and a wife at home, would
be the sum total of mundane bliss.
Then It was he suddenly discovered a
mine of wealth in each Of his sturdy
fists.
lie began TO fight in 1909, losing to
Frank Burns in September Of that year
in six rounds. He lost again TO Matty
Baldwin in August, 1911. He won his
next battles with Jack Britton ana
Jerry Murphy q few months later
These bouts told him he was not yet
ripe and he worked assiduousIy, as ne
always does. 70 perfect himself in
every branch of the game which va
10 be his life work.
Now we find him still working, still
persevering, in an effort 10 hang on TO
bis Iaurels before the curtain is rung
down on his career.
A peculiar thing about both men is
that few Of their hOnOrs were won ny
what everyone considers the correct
route-the knockout. Rivers seldom
knocked an opponent out. Ritchie, as
far as known, put the sleeping punch
to but one. That was to Yankee
Schwartz in Cleveland, O., in January.
1912. All his other bouts ended in no
decisions or, as was the case in the
go with Wolgast, on a foul
This rnnr-rcnde MIN did haftIn