El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-07-04

TEw YORK. July To-day is this
\ eouatry's one best bet in ne holiday
une-and as a rule a red letter day
in American puEillsm- But 1914 Is
the exception TO that rule Here We are on
the Fourth Of July and nothing doing In the
Championship hnc-the first Fourth IN many
ve7rs that one or more big titular battles
have not been on the cards
I don't know whether hard times in TINS
country or the boom the sport has devel-
oped OF late in England France and Aus
rralia-and which has drawn heavily on our
supply Of firstclass fighting mems re-
sponsible for the decline IN public interest
in boxing Something is wrong. that is sure
and ! suppose we VIII have 10 lay Il TO
business depression Most everything out
Of the ordinary these days is blamed on
business conditions. and when boxing
Americas most popular sport with one eT-
cepton-doesnt flourish around July
there must be some pretty good excuse
Brftons VIII See Good Fights.
While American fight fans are forced TO
read about the big fights these warm days.
English sports are getting ready Tor series
Of classy ring entertainments. which viii be
inauEurated with next Tuesdays interna-
tional lightweight championship contest be
tween Willie Richie. Americas standard
bearer. and Freddy Welsh. Great Brttain's
permier in the 155 pound division
week later London will have another
attractive looking bout IN the Gunooat
Smith-Carpentier match Carpenter IS the
acknowledged heavyweight champion OF Eu-
rope. an honor he annexed by defeating Eng
lands pride % Bombardier Wells, not once
hut on two occasions. smith is recognized
almost everywhere as the best white heavy
weight in the game-of course, there are one
or two, including yours truly. who think that
Gunboat would have an exceedingly hard
time proving his class over Jess Willard
and the one man in the game who can be
considered the logical candidate for a match
with Jack Johnson for the championship Of
the world.
Sandwiched in between these two import
ant bouts are several other international
events in which American boxers viii play
Merry England is batting about 1000 in the
pugilistic league at this writing
Sentiment Changes Rapidly.
In connection with the Ritchie-Welsh
match considerable apprehension exists re-
garding the Americans chances OF defeating
the Briton- Funny. how quickly sentiment
will shift in pugtlism- When Richie Iirst
beat Wolgast and was taken on an extended
theatrical tour by Billy Nolan. eastern eN-
perts who had never seen him In the ring
were almost TO a man agreed that the young
Californian was a luke champion and
that the first good man he met would prove
their contention Later when Willie elected
TO return to the ring and agreed to box Joe
likely candidate for the title, and stopped
the Mexican in II rounds the critics began
to hedge Then when Richie went east and
trimmed Leach Cross, New Yorks best light
weight Tor touted as suchl he was the big
gest man in the game.
Critics Again Shift
Then came Willles comparatively poor
showing against Charley White at Milwau-
kee. and Charley had not been classified as
a championship aspirant up 10 that time
Many Of those who had been singing Ritch-
les praises most eNtrava Eantly shifted again
and now on the eve Of the Americans most
title are fixing for an out in the event
Of Welsh's success in getting the referees
decision