Evening star., 1914-04-12

CudHplOH oL STedt br1tdln, dlCnOuSH
Johnny has recently been beaten twice in
Australia by Tom Mccormick, another
British welterweight of London. McCor-
mick according to common sense rules is
the champion. but under the Lonsdale
stipulation Summers still holds the belt
1t is hardly probable that the club will
want to match Summers with Mccormick
in view of the fact that the latter has
twice defeated Summers within a short
time. That is one reason why the club
| would like to have the rules changed so
that in the event of two British boxers
meeting away from home for the title
the victor would be recognized as the
champion. There have been other cases
similar to this in the different classes.
Ray Bronson. the Indianapolis weIter-
weight. who is in the antipodes at pres
ent with Milburn Saylor. appears to have
real challenger for the lightweight
crown. Before the pair left for Australia
Saylor met Freddy Welsh at Winnipeg
and claimed to have won by the knockout
| route. but others alleged 1t was a foul.
and there the matter rested. Since ar
irving in the land of the kangaroo Say
lor has had four battles. and three of
| them against the best lightweishts in the
country have been won by the knockout,
his latest victim being Herb McCoy, the
boy who defeated nearly every man of
note in the land. Saylor's battle with
Mccoy was no walkaway, for the latter
was not stopped untfl the eighteenth
round. and then he was fighting hard.
Saylor has proven himself a great bat
tier. and his ability to take a punch and
hand them out with the K. o. attached
has been the wonder of the sporting
| writer's of Sydney. 1t is certain that If
he keeps up his remarkable record he will
return to this country with every right
to demand a match with Willie Ritchie,
the champion. 1t is possible that Bron-
son will remain while longer and wait
for some of the Yankee ightweights who
are supposed to sail soon for Australia,
among them Young Shusrue and Bobby
Moore. Shugrue IS high-class light
weight. and about as tough as can be
found in this country. Should the two
meet it would be great battle, with the
| odds slightly favoring Saylor.
Johnny Griffith. the Akron. Ohio. light
weight, who has been absent from the
ring for some weeks, will return to the
arena April IA. when he is billed to meet
Jack <Coyne of New York. at Columbus,
has been ill with smallpox for some time,
but is all right again and ready for the
fray. When taken ill he was getting
along nicely and had some big matches
booked. Griffith has all the earmarks
of a great lightweight and if he shows
as much improvement during the next
year as he did last year. he will be near
champion and no mistake.
The detection Of Matt Wells from the
lightweight ranks will no doubt be ap-
preciated by Freddy Welsh. the present
holder of the British title, for Matt was
quite a rival of Freddy's for the cham
pionship. After Wells went to Australia
he found that his weight was increasing
and he wisely gave up the lightweight
division and entered the welterweight
ranks However, there are two light
1nO al in w
may give Freddie Welsh quite an argu-
ment before he gets through with them.
One of them is Willie Farrell and the
other Jerry Delaney. Farrell has been
doing remarkably good work of late,
despite the fact that he is a vaudeville
been a pastime with him, but since he
tried his hand at it and made such a
success in the few fights he had, he de-
cided to take it more seriously. The
other day he met a very tough French
lightweight in the person OF Raymond
Vittett, and after hard battle succeed
ed in winning. He has been matched
with Jerry Delaney for the near future,
and as Delaney is also a contender for
the title, it will be a hard try-out for
both of them. 1t will be necessary for
Freddie Welsh to return to England in a
few months to defend his title for the
Lonsdale belt, and the chances are that
T VI
Delaney.
Ad Wolgast. the Michigan bearcat.
who gave While Ritchie such a hard
battle in Milwaukee a few weeks ago,
writes me that his hand is improving
rapidly, having been taken out of the
cast, and that he expects to be in shape
for a couple of matches in May. Ad
figures on meeting Johnny Tillman at
Hudson. Wis. by the last of this month
or early in May. and after that one he
will tackle some one in a six-rouhd
bout at Grand Rapids, Mich. However,
he is not seeking very hard game at this
time, as he wants to reserve his strength
for another try with Willie Ritchie. and
it is possible that he will get his chance
early next fall. In the meantime Willie
Ritchie will tackle Tommy Murphy at
San Francisco April II. but there does
not seem to be much danger for the
champion in this contest, as he has all
it. II Richie comes out of this contest
all right, there is possibility that he
will meet either Charlie White or some
star lightweight in Milwaukee before
June. It all depends upon his theatrical
engagements following his battle with
Murphy.
Two other lightweight stars who figure
in the limelight just now will get busy
on the coast April %. the principals
being Freddie Welsh and Leach Cross.
A1Lef w elSH Splclulu SHoWAi6 d6oiuos
Joe Rivers he is being picked to out
point Cross. and if he does, he will be
in line to demand a battle with Richie
for the &orld's lightweight title.
Tom Jones, manager Of Ad Wolgast,
and Matte McCue, the Racine light
weight, Is nursing the latter fighter along
in very careful manner. Tom has
matched Matte with Joe Mandot of New
Orleans for a ten-round contest at Ra-
cine, April Is. but he has passed up
several other good offers, as he doesn' t
wish to rush his boy along at too rapid
gait, especitlly against some of the
really tough lightweights. Matty can do
130 pounds aieely and according to Tom
my Walsh, manager of Mandot, the latter
can also do that poundage If necessary.
1t WILL be very good contest Tor Mecue
and If he can show the right kind OF
class against Mandot he will be ready
for some of the boys at the top Of the
lightweight division. II Mandot has his
told time stamina he should be able to go
the ten rounds and outpoint McCue with
his clever left hand, but 1t Is a question
whether Joe is still there with his
Gene belmont. the southern feather
weight, is either a mighty good boy or
Johnny Kilbane, the champion, was not
trying his best when he fought him at
Memphis, Tenn, the past week. Accord
ing to some of the accounts, belmont
held his own right through the eight
rounds, although others gave kilbane
the decision On points. At any rate, the
contest was not of an exciting nature and
deal of respect for belmont. The south
ern boy has been coming along very fast
the past year, although for q time when
he was in Philadelphia he appeared to