New Britain herald., 1914-07-03

perts that he was dubbed second Joe Cans and the consensus of ex- pert opinion was that he would hold on to the title for many years-that there was no one in sight who could make it even interesting for the champion.
 Then came Willie's comparatively poor showing against Charley White at Milwaukee, and Charley had not been classified as championship as pirant up to that time. Many of those who had been singing Ritchies praises most extravagantly shifted again and now on the eve of the Americans most important match since winning the worlds title are fixing for an out" in the event of Welsh's success in getting the ref eree's decision.
 No one Is more willing to admit Fred Welsh's ability in the boxing line than I am. Still do not be- lieve there. is great danger of the worlds lightweight title going to England at this time. If one were to throw every Ritche battle out of the reckoning except that one with White in Milwaukee there might be reason to worry over the matter, but those who take the trouble to look at his showings against boys who would probably experience no great trouble in defeating White must admit that the American champion is no sucker at the game. If it were a ten round battle for points I would be inclined to favor Welshs chances. Conceding that Welsh is faster and moro scientific boxer than Ritchie, in contest of twenty rounds stamina and hitting powers are to be reckoned as well as fast and skillful boxing. Ritchie is the younger and stronger boy and those are two big points in his favor in bout of this distance Welsh is fast-very fast for a few rounds-but he demonstrated in his match with Matt Wells-I mean the one in which he won the title back that punishment slows him up the same as it will any fighter and, be- lieve me, he is going to take some punishment from Ritchie before ten rounds are over. It may be argued that Freddy made both Rivers and Cross look positively foolish. ut ln
 doesn't prove anything. Cross in particular has been made to look like a novice every time he met clever man, or man who elected to fight him cleverly. Ritchie told me the night he was to box Cross that he was satisfied that he could beat Cross at his own game of slugging and that he would fight him that way, as he was champion and in making his first appearance before New York crowd did not want it said that he ran away from an opponent told him to pay no attention to what the papers would say, that Cross carried a dangerous punch and he would be tempting fate to mix it up with such a hard hitter, but Willie was conf1- dent and determined to stand toe to toe with Leach and show New York CTS he was a regular" fighter. That he did and won is of course matter of ring history.
 However to get back to next Tues days match. Ritchie can box clever ly when he wants to do so. No less an authority than Packey Mcfarland who taught Willie much that he knows of boxing tells me Ritchie is corking good boxer who can make it interesting for either Welsh or him. self sparring for points, and that Willie would probably surprise the British by fighting scientific battle until such time as he got ready to test his strength and superior hitting powers against the English boxers speed and footwork and after ten
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