The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-07-07
BIC LONDON FIGHT
Championship Contest Between
Welsh and Richie.
Churchmen to Participate in
Ringside Activities.

London, July FIRED Welsh, light
weight champion of England. and Will
the world. arrived in London this
morning from their training camps at
Porthcawl, Wales, and Brighton, re-
spectively, for their fight tonight in
the great arena of Olympia in the west
end of London.
Both boxers declared themselves
confident of winning the championship
and both said they felt in the pink of
condition. Their looks bore out their
statement Welsh was favorite in. the
due to the support which his Welsh
compatriots have been giving him at
Cardiff where most of the betting so
far has been s to in his favor. Fa-
ther Boulder Is to act as master OF
ceremonies at the match, the Bishop CT
Stepney having objected to the Rev.
Everett Ligby's officiating. Eugene
Corri is to be the referee.
The two men weighed in at Olympia
this afternoon. Ritchie scaled 1874
pounds, while Welsh was just able to
get within the stipulated limit of 1876
| pounds
| After eighteen years of waiting Lon
don is going to have genuine boxing
contest with the championship of the
world IN the balance. Nevertheless
London seems less interested than it
was a week ago, the night before the
| I0rclCdl performance Dy bOmDdruler
| Wells and Colin Bell.
| Rarely has there been less newspaper
discussion or less general anticipation
on the part Of the public where q cham
pion of the world in any division was
about to go twenty rounds to defend
the title.
! The amazing truth is that the British
public actually prefers the impossible
| (but Handsomely Bombardier to Freddie
Welsh, than whom probably no cleverer
lightweight ever lived. For one reason
or another Welsh is not popular with
Londoners. AS for Ritchic he is un-
known.
II suppose he must be champion of
the world,'' one Londcn Johnny drawled
| when his attention was called to the
fact that Ritchie held that title. But
really you know it doesn't matter much
does it? There are SO many champions
these days and besides Ritchie has
never fought over here, has he?"
The odds of six to four on Welsh re-
flect this apathy that seems to dull
Londoners whenever anything that they
do not know all about is offered to them
They do not like Welsh much but al
least they know him and his ability
Their argument seems to be that surely
nobody who has not performed lover
heah" can possibly be as good as man
who has.
i Another result of this unusual state
of affairs is the fact that the advance
sale of seats is actually less than fol
the Wells-Bell farce, although the scale
of prices for that bout was almost three
times as high. However, Cochran, the
promoter of both fights, says that last
week he expected he would be lucky t.
break even but made a nice profit wher
more than $4,000 was paid in at tbs
arena after o'clock on the night of the
Iignt Doubtless all the empty seats
will be taken by late comers, who will
trust to luck to get what they want al
Olympia tonight.
The Rev. John H. Boulder. vicar Of
st. Michaefs Anglican church, IslinE-
ton, is a popular burly clergyman who
encourages his parishioners to box
and to play football and cricket. Wher
! ne was curate at Cardiff in. 1902
!SV3 he established temperance sa-
loon' In which he placed a great cruel.
fix over the bar. The venture was ar
immense success