The Washington herald., 1913-09-07
Welsh TO Fight
WORLDS CHAMP
English Belt Holder Names
Date for Battle with Willie
Ritchie for Title.
YANKEE PUBLIC CHOICE
Followers of Pugilisie Game Look for
American to Retain Crown-Eng-
lishman Has Bad Ankle.
YANKEE PUBLIC CHOICE
By w. w. NAUGHTON.

San Francisco, Sept. 6-The next con-
test for the lightweight championship OF
the world will take place on British terri
tory. The principals will be Willie
Ritchie, the title holder, and Freddie
Welsh who is the proud possessor Of
the Lord Lonsdale belt, for superiority
on the English side of the water.
So far the match has had its share of
tribulation and trials September 1 was
the date originally set, but owing to an
accident to Welsh the plans were
changed. 1t was a sprainedj ankle that
kept Freddie from living up TO his agree
ment with Ritchie. but now the wrenched
foot is right again and new articles have
been drawn up calling for bout on Sep
tember 20
II Freddie is careful, there is nothing
to prevent everything going as merrily
as a championship bill, although many
of the harder headed sports who were
skeptical in regard TO Welshs chances,
have grown more skeptical still. They
know that among laymen a sprained
ankle is a treacheTOus thing, often taking
months TO heal They argue that il you
scratch a fighter he is merely human,
and that when il comes TO a matter of
twisted ligaments there is no reason for
supposing that a ring man will recover
quicker than a man in any other walk
Of life.
Welsh Has Bad Ankle.
However. there are sprainsd ankles and
Sprained ankles. 1t is just possible that
Welsh suffered from very light form
of the visitation and that he rounded
to" quickly He is said TO be a wealthy
young man and supPOsing the match is
what it is advertised TO be, a genuine
struggle for the mastery, it is hardly like
iy that he would risk his prestige unless
he knew himself to be thoroughly sound
in wind and limb.
While others among the worlds light
weights are as much entitled to a crack
at the champions as Welsh, / am willing
to ConCede that he is the flower OF the
British lightweight flock. He has beaten
Matt Wells, who recently vanquished
Hughie Michigan, champion of Australia,
and that places him at the top of the
tree
While I believe there are several young
sters in this country who could defeat
Welsh if given the chance, 1 am free TO
confess that he is more thoroughly a
national representative in pugilism than
Ritche. The latter has not shown him
self to be the best lightweight in 1.meri-
ca. He has sidetracked a meeting with
Harlem Tommy Murphy, on the plea that
Murphy will keep" and if there is a
suggestion of reciprocity anywhere con-
cealed about the lighting game he owes
Ad. NolgaSt a return match.
But the Welsh-Ritchie match has been
cOnsummated, for better or worse, and
it is to wait and see what comes of it
After Easiest job.
There is considerable shrewdness in
RitChie's contention that Murphy will
keep" 1t is the sage remark of a youth
who prefers tacklng the easier job first
For. no matter what is really in store
him yrbpT he faces Welsh in ha VA
CoUver arena on September 30 Willie
believes that defeating Welsh will prove
a less strenuous task than conqUering
Tommy Murphy.
This much is gained from a man who
was in Ritchie's confidence when the sue
CeSsor of WOlgast was touring the vaude-
willie circuit While Ritchie has given
out very little about his ring plans. he
was watching the trend of affairs pugi-
listiC closely and talking A good deal in
private of what would happen when his
theatrical engagements came to an end.
Like the brainy youth he is. he classified
his prospective opponents and placed
them and considered the least dangerous
on the preferred list He promised him
self that he would box Joe Rivers, Leach
Cross. and Freddie Welch if possible. in
the order named. and that the others
would keep" He expressed the opin-
ion that none of the three could hurt
him. and when he said it he meant that
it was not in Joe. Leach. or Freddie to
hurt him physically or damage his pres
tige. He showed himself a wise prophet
so far as Rivers was concerned, and il
remains to be seen how his estimate OF
Welsh pans out.
He certainly should have known more
about Freddie than either of the others
named, as he met him before. And he
was in a position to furnish good rea-
son for opning that it was not in Welsh
to damage him.
At a few hours notice he took Ad
WolgaSt's place against Welsh in a con-
test staged in Los Angeles. Without
training, and little knowledge of the pro-
fessional ring. RitChie made such a close
thing of it with Welsh that there were
times when Freddie's friends around the
ring were looking for opportunities to
hedge their bets.
Now if Ritchie. the novice, could do
well against the talented Britisher a
couple of years ago, it is far from pre-
sumption on Ritchies part to figure that
ne can hold Welsh safely under altered
conditions.
then, and has all the confidence a cham
pon should possess, while Welsh is
thought TO be less dashing than he was
at the time of the last meeting.
But you can't always tell Welsh.
while he has had few setbacks, as far
as health is concerned, has been going
strong for several months His per-
formance with Wells is sufficient to show
that Freddie is far from a weakling, for
Welsh is as rugged a fellow as the light
weight division boasts.