New Britain herald., 1914-04-04

trio of star lightWe1EhtS, Leacn cross, Tommy Murphy and Young Joe Shu- grue, have done gone and left us fiat. Cross is headed for Los Angeles,
 where he goes to do battle with
 Freddy Welsh. the English champion;
 Shugrue is expected to sail for Aus
 tralia sometime the coming week, and
 Tommy Murphy is already en-
 camped near San Francisco in train
 ing for the match with Willie Ritchie,
 the worlds lightweight title holder.
 Gotham sports will have to get along the best they can for the next
 month or two without these stars to
 entertain them. But for that matter
 local sports are getting pretty we'll
 used to that sort of thing-the bulk
 of entertainment promoters have
 been dealing them all winter has not
 particularly smacked of class.
 However, it is an ill wind that
 blows no good, and Californian and
 Australian sports-especially the lat
 ter-are to be congratulated on the
 visits of this triumvirate of fstic stars.
 New Workers have little hope that
 Cross and Murphy will do any more
 than drag down the losers ends in their battles-with Shugrue it is different matter. This kid is com ing along fast, and will in all prob ability become warm favorite with the Antipodean sports On the dope there is hardly a native lightweight who can make trouble for the clever youngster.
 Ritchie vs. Murphy.
 The next big lightweight contest is to be held in Jim Coffroth's San Francisco arena on April Hone week from next Friday-when Willie Ritchie and Tommy Murphy are ! booked for twenty rounds. This is the match that was to have been de- cided last December; then postponed until February, and again to April IT. The weather man and high fever belonging to Ritchie were re- sponsible for the first postponement. and the champion alone was blamed for the second holdup-although it
 was through no fault of his other than an unfortunate accident which subjected him to so much severe and unjust criticism at the time.
 Willies showing against Ad Wol- gast indicates that he will be at his best form when he steps in the ring
 
 good for the New Yorker. The latter has been a great little man. in his day. for years ranking close to the : leaders of the division, though al- ways a few points shy of champion l ship class. It is the opinion of local experts that Tommy is tackling the 1 hardest job of his entire career in boxing Ritchie-who looks the class of American hghtweights since Cans | day-and those who like to risk a few dollars on sporting events of this na- 1 ture should bear in mind that Mur- l phy is no longer. a spring chicken as years are reckoned in athletics. l Cross Going Back.
 As for Leach Cross, it is my opin- l ion that his ten-round strenuous ses- sion with Willie Ritchie last fall was
 the turning point in his career. Ger l tainly he outfought himself in that l engagement, and his showing since l that time has been very much second class. In fact, the only bout Leachie 1 has put to his credit since the great {, battle with the champion was the one ! with Bud Anderson, and that young
 man has not been able to lick a postage stamp since his operation for appendicitis. Joe Rivers outboxed 1 and outfought Cross in their twenty l round match, and since coming back l home Leach has twice been outpoint- l ed Even Phil Bloom, a local young l ster of no great skill was entitled to verdict over the fighting dentist. l And Young Shugrue also beat him ! several weeks ago--according to local critics.
 i Cross boxes Freddy Welsh in Los
 Angeles on April 2S. Judging from
 what Fred did to Rivers only recently. Cross chances to defeat the clever ] Englishman are anything but rosy. 1 It looks to me as if Leach is natur- ] ally in for a scientific trimming at 1 Welsh's hands It is not exactly l clear just what else he can. hope to
 accomplish. Cross has never been able to do anything worth while
 against skilled boxer, and Welsh is
 certainly all of that. With the rough
 and ready sluggers Leach always has
 a chance. as he packs punch that
 will turn the desired trick almost any
 time it lands. But he will find Welsh
 very adept at lodging right swings.
 If Welsh is victorious in the Cross
 match, and all the dope points in that
 direction, he likely will be chosen as Willie Ritchie's opponent for the 1 Fourth of July. With Wolgast laid
 up again there will be no one to dis pute Welsh's claims for a battle for
 the worlds title-unless of course
 Tommy Murphy should pull the un- 1 expected and upset the champion. l Welsh has wisely decided that the quickest and surest road to match for
 highest honors is to beat his rival as- pirants first, and started the fireworks 1 by giving Joe Rivers the most artis-
 tic licking that young man ever had handed to him.
 l And it should make a great contest Ritchie versus Welsh-and one that