The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-27
WELSH MUST IMPROVE TO
 BEAT RlTCHlE MARCH III
Jim Corbett Says Philadelphia Pro- motors Make New Workers Look
 Cheap

Ritchie's ambition is to get back his title, and as there is little chance to do that from a. clever boy like Welsh in a ten round bout he is work ing with the sole idea of making such a showing against the cham pion in the coming bout that the public will demand that Welsh meet him in a longer one.
 And this battle should give us a. real line on Welsh In recent bouts the champion has shown very poorly by comparison with previous efforts and the experts are of the opinion that the little We1shman has hit the old toboggan for fair. That may or may not be the case. There is no de- nying that the champion looked pret- ty bad in his last three bouts, but 1t is also a well known fact that he had not been taking very good care of himself either. And a few weeks of real work might make.an entirely diff ferent boy out of him Welsh has never indulged in dissipation to any extent, and may be pardoned for an occad onal transgression now that he has reached the goal he has so long sought But he should not try to burn the candle on both ends at the same time. Either he must take a vacation from the ring to indulge himself in his little dissdpatfons or attend to business. The two will not mix and it is not fair to the public for a champion to enter the ring if he is not in shape to do himself and the patrons of the sport full justice.
 Ritchie. it is claimed, has not had ] a bout for so long that he will not be in proper shape either. But Ritchie has never given himself over to dissipation of any sort and leads practice is necessary to perfection or perfection, and Willie, no doubt, would be bettef off had he taken on a few opponents during his long stay in San Francisco. But he is young and in perfect health and is far from i being foolish. No one realizes more than he just what this match means guarantee that he will put up the battle of his life against the man who outpointed him for the title fn London last summer.
 It is not Likely that Rftchie will knock Welsh out in ten rounds. challenger can expect is to earn the l popular verdict. If Ritchie, not generally regarded as a scientific boxer, outpoints the champion the conclusion will be that Welsh has gone back so far that his chances of a, longer route wouAd be practically nil Ritchie may be lucky enough to cross. that good right of his to Freddy's jaw but the latter Is a wonderfully clever defensive fighter and against so strong and hard hit 1 ting an opponent as Ritchie is sure to make the battle a. defensive one throughout. As no referees decis- 1 ion will be rendered it will matter little to Welsh whether the newspa- per verdict is for or against him.
 This is the last of the series of ar tic1es MT. Corbett has been contrib uting regularly to the sport pages oi the Evening Farmer. By the time this article appears in print the for
 mer heavyweight champion will be
 well started on his voyage across the l Pacific to fill an engagement in the leading vaudeville theaters of Aus
 tralia-
 i MT. Corbett has requested the l sporting editor of the Evening Farm l CT to announce that he hopes to re sume the series of interesting and
 timely boxing stories upon his re-
 turn 70 this country next year