Evening star., 1915-02-21
BY T. S. ANDREWS.
Special Dispatch 10 The Star.

Special Dispatch 10 The star.
MILWAUKEE,, Wis, February 20
Some very classy battles between
lightweights are scheduled for the lat
ter part of February, principally the
Johnny Griffith-Joe Shugrue match at
Akron. Ohio, February %; the Charley
White Freddy Welsh bout in Milwau-
kee, February 25, and the Welsh-Wn-
lie Richie bout in New York following
closely after, The greatest interest no
doubt will be in the White-W elsh
match, as it will be at weight this
time and White is anxious to get his
chance against the champion before
Ritchie does. This is really, the main
reason. why White sought the match
for Milwaukee previous to the Welsh
Ritchie clash in New York. Charlie
had been matched with Welsh in New
York for February Q. but was taken
i'll and had to call it off. The Madison
square Garden Club asked for a post
ponement, but the match was dropped
for the time and then Richie was pro-
cured to meet the champion. Nate
Lewis, manager for W hite. go' ouss
was closed. When these TWO boys
met in Milwaukee last November II
was at catchweights, Welsh scaling IN
the afternoon at l41, while "hite Was
under 135 by pound or more IN that
hattie White made splendid finish in
the ninth and tenth rounds ana many
ella lined he had the best OF II, While
others claimed a draw at least nov
ever, the writer gave the Veroict 10
welsh. as it was evident he had the
contest on points up to the final session
and White could not overcome the lead
in one round. I'll,
with Welsh at 135 pounds there Will
be little to choose between theni as
CARDS weight, and they Will enter the
ring on more even terms than before.
White has stated that he will force the
battle this time from the start; ana II
he does it will be ;1 gTand tbeo eontes hsys ana
chance TO show how near he can come
to putting the Welshman out or the
running in a limited round bout: Crit
fifth has proved his class ana viii Keep
clash at Akron. Shugrue has twice met
Welsh. and there has been dispute
as to who had the shade. Grlflth, too'
credited with having the shade in a
twelve-round go. Shugrue VIII ma
that Johnny has a left hand that IS
lust about as fast as that Of Welsh.
Whether Ritchie can make me pace
fast enough in ten-round bout 70
get" Welsh is u question. Willie mas
not been boxing much since early last
fall, and his Judgment OF distance may
e
very hard man to reach. Unless Willie
nuts over a lucky punch the chances
are that Welsh will outpoint him
again Ritchie should have marathon
bout against the champion to SHOW ms
real worth. AS a fighter Ritchie is
there with the goods, but he is no
where near as clever as Welsh, ana IN
u short bout his chance of winning is
very slim.
There seems to be considerable con-
troversy among boxing fans regarding
the recent twelve-round contest pc
tween Freddy Welsh, worlds light
weight champion. and Johnny Griff1th.
one of the contenders for the title, as
to whether Griffith would have been
recognized as worlds champion had ne
scored a knockout over Welsh. AS the
match was not at weight. nor adver-
tised as a championship affair, 1t is
hard to figure out how Griffith could
claim the worlds title. OF course, there
are many writer's who would. no doubt.
recognize Johnny as the champion II
he had scored knockout, but techni-
cally he would not be. A fighter. to
gain the championship. is supposed 10
be matched up according to the weight
all title matches are never less than
twenty rounds. Boxers may claim all
they please. but that does not make
them champions. Had Welsh and Grif-
fifth been fighting at the stipulated
weight of the lightweight class it
would then have the semblance of a
title match, even II the number of
rounds were reduced. and a knockout
by the Akron boy would have been
recognized by most critics. but even
then ii would not have made him
worlds champion. as he would neces-
sarily have to defeat the title holders
of other countries.
To begin with. Griffith is not the
American champion. Willie Ritchie still
holds that honor and VIII continue to
do so until he either retires, is beaten
or cannot longer make the weight.
However, Mr.. Ritchie is bound to de-
fend the title against all challengers
or otherwise forfeit the same. Welsh
happens to be a real worlds champion,
as he not only defeated Willie Ritchie
for the American title, but also won
the crown from the Australian cham
pion-Hughie Mehegan-and defeated
| the French lightweight champion for
the European title Griffith defeated
Michigan, the Australian champion, but
] SO did Miiburn saylor, the Hoosier