New Britain herald., 1914-08-01
Welsh Makes Return B0nt
 Will Ritchie Impossible
Imposes Conditions That Cannot Be Met = CorbcH Thinks Britton Could Make Things Interesting for
 Wille-What Will Gunboat Smith Do?


 his cutting it short to condition him. self for a match with Welsh. I doubt if twice the amount he asks for a match with Ritchie would be enough to obtain Fred's consent to another bout with the wonderfully clever Chicagoan.
 Ritchie may consent to box in New York before he leaves for the coast There is only one boy in the light weight division around here at pres ent who could make it interesting for the champion, and that is Jack Brit ton Britton, by the way, has been taking it easy for several months and would probably want some little time to get into. shape. A match between Dan Morgans star and the American title holder would appeal to New Workers who have had surfeit of matches between third raters this summer.
 Billy Gibson told me the other day that he. has hopes of landing Ritchie and that Britton would likely be the man selected to give the champion a tryout if everyone is agreeable. If not Britton, Leach Cross may be se
 
 hard time keeping busy on the coast and it would not take much to bring him back here. Certainly the chance of boxing Ritchie again ought to ap- peal to one of Leachie's we'll known money-making propensities. The Ritchie-Cross encounter last fall was a hummer and local sports, would gladly pay liberal prices to see them go 1t over again.
 If put to a vote the fans would rather see Ritchie fight Cross than any other lightweight in the game. Britton's style is more on the Welsh order; if not quite so scientific in de- fense, in offense it is about the same. On the other hand both Cross and Ritchie are earnest scrappers and with Ritchie's aggressiveness and Leach,s foxiness and punching pow CTS it should make an exceedingly interesting affair. The opinion was unanimous that Ritchie and Cross fought the best ten round bout New Workers have seen since the Frawley law has been in operation.
 WoIgast,s Hammer Busy.
 Ad Wolgast has become 9 regular knocker. He is following in the footsteps of the illustrious Battling Nelson, who never could forgive Wol- gast for licking him. Bats favorite appellation for Ad while the latter was the titleholder was cheese cham pion.'' Now comes Wolgast with similar expressions of deep regard for Ritchie.
 Wolgast is quoted as saying that the only thing that surprised him was tof nlcl- ,Sx~ eli ly. Which is kind of a left-handed boost for his own ring prowess any way one figures it, inasmuch as it IS the popular opinion, backed up by the records, that Ritchie can trim Wol- gast over any old distance.
 Regarding the Gunboat.
 Gunboat Smith, another young gentleman who went abroad to clean up, has also returned. The Gunner was welcomed by a few friends when he trotted down the gang plank, but he didn't get anywhere near the re- ception Georges Carpenter was ex- tended when that favored son of France got back to Paris. They say that Georges was smothered with kisses by his enthusiastic admirers. But the Gunner is welcome just the same. MdyDe now that he IS back safe and sound he may consent to talk business with his most danger ous rival Jess Willard. The folks about here have long entertained the opinion that Willard will trim Smi+'l if they ever get in the ring again.
 While Gunboat was not beaten by Carpenter, he lost on disqualifica- ton, and the records show the Frenchman the victor. It is all we'll enough to say that Smiths reputa- tion will not suffer by the decision, but just the same he will have to start all over again and rebuild what ever rep" he had. Had he licked Carpenter decisively he might have got by with the statement that he would not consider challenges from anyone else until he had met Jack Johnson for the title, but he has lost ! whatever chance he ever had for a bout with Johnson. At least until he licks few more lesser lights. 1 The Gunboat will find Carl Morris 1 and Jess Willard ready to talk turkey. l The Gunner ought to give Morris an other chance. He won over Carl the same way Carpenter won over him. | And there was considerable doubt l about the genuineness of the foul, too, in the Morris case. Many thought l that Smith, who had been getting ] mussed up badly, quit cold.