Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-04

ing commission, who
cabled the astounding information to
Paris in response to query from the
French boxing authorities concerning
Johnson's status as pug.
+; 1t appears that certain promoters on
| the other side are. peeved at the cham
| pion because he has refused to do bust
ness at their clubs. 1 suppose there is
| just about as much jealousy and bicker-
| ing over there among the hackers of
| fight clubs as on this side. AT any rate.
/ one NJ. Vienne, director Of the Society
for the Propagation of Boxing in France
(get that titled, wanted the New York
boxing moguls to back him up in his
stand that johnson, by refusing to meet
Sam Langford, had forfeited his claim
| on the title.
Naturally the local people could not do
this, as much as they might have wished
to- There is no possible way of taking
the title away from johnson excepting Dy
killing him, beating him in fair hght
in the ring. accident or through ms vol
| untary retirement. There Is nothing IN
the rules what a joke those ruleso which
compels champion to defend his title
any oftener thapShe feels like it In the
old days a champion was supposed to de-
fend his title at least once a year. II
ditions are different. and he Is expected
to fight only when broke. or his drawing
power as a theatrical star is waning
! 1t would be a good idea II the au-
| thorities of the different countries were
| to get together and adopt an interna-
| tional rule which would force all pugi-
| listic champions to defend their TUES
every so often: but how are you GO
| ing to bring them together? 1t might
! be possible to get the French promot-
| ers to consent to such convention.
and in England whatever the National
| Sporting Club decides is accepted as
| final by. the smaller fry. but in the
dear old Z. S. A. how about it? Why.
| over here the authorities in one state
will not even respect the rulings OF the
| moguls in another. For recent ex-
ample, take the Wisconsin ruling
| against Packey Mcfarland. Packey is
| barred for a year in Wisconsin. but Is
welcome every place else in the coun-
| try.
| When the New York commission set
| Attell down for six months all Abe
had to do was to go outside the state
| to get all the work he wanted. As
! long as these harmonious" conditions
| exist in this country it Is silly to talk
about passing international rules to
| regulate boxers and boxing.
| Johnson's latest appearance in the
ring indicates that he has hit the down
| grade. Apparently it would not now
take really great fighter to defeat
him. Jim Cofroth of San Francisco
has the right idea First find a battle
| ground. then offer the big smoke fat
purse and see how quickly he would
grab at 1t. The greatest difficulty Cof-
froth will experience is finding a COM
munity where they will stand for
! Johnson.
3, Willie Richie will do well to keep
a physician with him constantly dur
ing the training campaign for the COM
ing mill with Tommy Murphy. IF any
| thing should again happen to the
champion necessitating another delay
he would have hard time. explaining
| 1t to the satisfaction Of the San Fran
| cisco public. Since he abandoned the
I Welsh match in Canada and then had
| to ask a postponement of the bout with
| Murphy the champion has been under
| suspicion on the coast.
Like AID Wolgast. Willie seems to be I'M
| lucky in many ways. Here in the east
where we know Tommy Murphys limits
| and have fairly good idea of what
| Richie can dove figured the bout with
| Murphy as some easy money for the
champion. But out California way, where
Tommy has fought several good battles,
they look at it in a different light. and
several critics have even accused Willie
of harboring no desire to test his Wanted
skill against that of the New Yorker.
Since Richie has gone on record in
favor of raising the lightweight limit to
30 pounds q howl has arisen from d.f-
ferent parts of the country that he is
really welterweight. From what 1
had been told / was under the impression
that the lightweight champion could no
more make 1873 pounds and be fit than
could. But when training for the New
York bout with Leach Cross I watched
Willie jump on the scales several days
before the fight. and he balanced at ex-
actly 1884,. And. mind you, the cond-
tons of that match did not call for l:s:3,
but for 1856 at 8 O'Clock in the evening.
AS this weight was what Ritchie scaled
: two or three days before the bout; it is
/, easy TO imagine that 1875 ringside would
be no great hardship for him.
Jim Buckley, manager for Tommy Muir
/ ply. likes to talk lot Jim is a good
fellow and all that, but never feels so
| happy. as, when he has an audience Any