Evening star., 1914-01-25

champion the papers wouldn't have given
Willie and his troubles a tumble Sailor
Petroskey was forced to cancel the match
Tom McCarey had scheduled for him
with Jimmy Clabby last week, but
haven't seen anything in the sporting
pages insinuating that the tar had cold
feet or impugning his courage.
But with Ritchie it is different-he is
the champion Of his class and as such is
the target for all the shots the scribes
feel like aiming in his direction. 1t
helps fill the sporting columns and. after
all, really does not do the champion any
great harm
Still it is not the fair thing to roast a
fighter Of the Ritchie type for doing what
any sane person would have done under
gone into the ring with Murphy in poor
| physical condition and an accident oc-
CURED. what a swell chance for tn,
enemies of the sport to get in their
| deadly work. Probably the same critics
| who are now taking the champion to task
| for "dodging Murphy. without knowing
the why or wherefore. would then be
among the first to roast the club officials,
| fighters, managers and everyone con-
| nected with the mill for permitting the
| champion to enter the ring at all. And
| there you are.
| The fact Of the matter is that Willie
Ritchie has accomplished more in the
| short time he has been champion than
| any of his immediate predecessors. True,
WolgaSt fought half dozen short bat
| ties in the twelve months following his
defeat by Battling Nelson, but there was
| not classy man in the bunch. Nelson
| gave Joe Cans return match. two
months after he had beaten the negro for
| the cham pionship. but that match was
a mistake. 1t should never have been
| allowed. Cans was then on his last legs
and lasted twenty-one rounds because he
was a wonderful ring general, and 1t
was his brain and not his strength that
| kept him on his feet for that length of
| time before one of the toughest light
! weights the game has ever known.
| Now look at Ritchies record for the
| first year Of his reign as champion. Seven
| months after winning the title he fought
what was to have been a twenty-round
bout with Joe Rivers, recognized by press
and public as his most dangerous rival.
! and knocked him out in ten or eleven
| rounds. l forget which. -Four months
| later he took on Leach Cross, by many
| considered a greater fighter than Rivers,
and gave him beating in ten rounds
| so decisive that there was not dis
| senting voice to the newspaper yerdicts,
! which is an unusual thing in New York,
| where the friends and supporters of a
losing scrapper in important con-
| test put up howl that can be heard
! from Harlem to the Battery If there is a
possible chance OF getting away with it.
That's what I call going some for a
|
class And Willie didn't pick out easy
| marks, it will be noticed. On the con-
| trary, he let the matchmakers do the
picking and boxed the two hardest propo-
sitions in the lightweight division.
| Now. because he has been unfortunate
| enough to meet with an accident forcing
him to call Off the Murphy bout for the
| second time, a number Of knockers are
filing their columns with insinuations
and innuendoes concerning his courage
Why, Ritchie Is entitled TO sympathy in
stead Of knocks any way one looks at it.
In the first place. it isn't very nice to
| Spring a bum heel. an accident that
would put him out of the game alto
gether If not properly attended to; and
in the second place, $4,000 is not to be
picked up every day-even these times
| when the purses are prodigal
Il And the Murphy match looked like easy
money for the champion from any angle
one sized 1t up
Truly the path of a champion is not
always strewn with roses.
With Eddie McGoorty out of the run
ming and an avowed candidate for the
heavyweight title according to Austria
Ian advices). the nliddleweight champion
ship problem is just that much closer to
a solution.
Mike Gibbons proved in the recent bout
with Bob McAllister that he must be
lreekoHed With as worthy candidate for