The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-21
RlTCHIE WILLING TO FIGHT FOR
 PURSE sIO, 900 OR sl5, 900
Jim Corbett Denies He Picked Heavy weight Coffey As Coming
 Ring Champion
fBr James J. Corbett, Former Heavy- weight Champion of the World.)

fRx James J. Corbett, Former Heavy-
 weight Champion of the World-l
 Especial to the Farmer.) New York March 21.-Mores than a week has rolled by since Willie R1tch- fe and .Ad Wo1gast met in Milwaukee, but their battle is still the prlnclpa topic among sporting men fiven Rftchie.s hardest knockers - ana sa' champion pugilist always has plenty 1-a[5rl,if that the Californian never rdisa.upoints a crowd when he is D the ring Willie can always be depend- ed upon to put up an inter estinG pat tie and. given a willing opponent CT the Wolgast stripes the spectators are sure to enjoy hstic treat
 In Wolgast-a rejuveuated Wolgast bv the Way-Ritchie met his most dangerous rival in the lightweight Sivisson-s A Wolgasta trained to the minute and in better fighting condi- ffor than he has entered the ring since the bout with Owen. Moran a1 san Francisco nearly three years ago. On no other occasion since he graD- bed the title from Battling Nelson nas the ex-champfon given so much une to preparation for a mill as he devot- ed to his training for the ten round match with Ritchies Wolgast enter ed the ring in Anlwalza1ee last Tveek trained to the minute
 WoIgasfsss reward for his excellent showing will probably be longer match with the champion- That ne ss entitled to it there can be no ques- tion- But he Is fortunate that such an obligins person as Rttcnie 1s seat- Cd upon the throne he once occupied If Rsfchie was inclined to give Ad q dose of the sarne kind of medicine the latter treated Nelson to where would AdoIph get off
 Ritchie still has the match with Tommy Murphy on his hands Ar Tar of New Yorker he will come East again Judging by what he wrote me recent 1y Willie plans a. very busy sumner. Unless something happens to upset his plans the champ will be seen in bouts in San Francisco, waulxee, New York and Buffalo within the next three or four months And in that time WiIlie's ambitious program will call for matches with the best men of his class Any one who can draw the money will get a match. xvflMe has fixed scale of prices, and must get at least s10.0O0 for ten, o1. @15.000 for twenty rounds
 It will be seen from this that Ritch- ie isa not particular in his choice of op35onents That rests with the pro mote ers who bid for his services. n is a long time since pugilism has known champion s1n any division who was less hnicky about matches than. Willie Ritchie- He is a fine lit tie genfIemans and a great little scrapper- More power to him
 WolEast. sturdy little lighter, mus. be given a word or two of praise for different showing with second raters made it look as if he was disguste1 with the game since he lost the chanpionship., and that he had shot his bolt altogether But when he grabbed the bout with Joe Rivers and realized that a victory meant re- turn match with Ritchie, he buckled down to hard work with the result that he is to-day regarded as the most likely comeback prospect the division has evefs known So good an account did he give of himself that a number of critics have opfned that he has a sp1endids chance to beat Willie in q longer bout
 However, am not one who thinks Ad will defeat the champion if they come together in a twenty round bout In fact think exactly the opposite believe the longer the fight the less chance he will have. Rftchie begins slowly and gets better bout pro. gresses. and if Ad couldn't hold him even for ten rounds it would seer6 that twenty rounds would spell defea' for him In the match here witf Leach Cross-z dangefous man too the champion was going very strong at the finish, and unprejudiced eye witnesses Of the Milwaukee affair have informed me that he was strons as a bull when the bell rang for tht end of the ten round set-to with Vol sast-
 Jim Coffroth, the California hgl1 promoter, has convinced local sport. that he is quite student of fighters 4 day or two before the Ritchie-Wol gast meeting, when asked for an ad vance opinion on the battle, Sum. Jeerns's let himself loose ef. tn follow. ing wisdom-which came pretty clos, to calling the turn.
 s7f WoIgast is in good condition he may hold Ritchie to a draw M, opinion is based on the battle il which Ritchie won the title on a foul In the early part of that melee it wa. all Welgast and not until the ninth o, tenth round did Willie get going nice E. .Ritchie is a great fighter, but h, Is not a six or ten round artist H, needs longer route to show, at hi best
 Jim was no so far out of inc way While nearly all the Chicago paper gave the decision to the champion, tn Milwaukee scribes were about event divided in opinion
 All of which leads up to the ques ton Of what California, promoter vii land the return twenty round match My opinion is that Coffroth will outbi, his rivals
 was an interested spectator at tn fen round session between big Jfn Goffey and Battling Levinslsy las week. and because I called on Coffe after the bout in company with hi manager. Billy Gibson, "Snowey'' Ba ker and a few friends, andsoffered t show him a thing or two in the box Ing line that may prove of big help | him in the future. I have been exten nfre1y ..quoted'' as predicting bril- liant future for the big Irish mar Son1e have even gone so far as fo sa that have <@pfckedf Coffey as fh .scoming worlds champion.
 Ii don't take much to get a sport <tuK writer going. Give him hin