El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-02-20
MILWAUKEE, Wis, Feb. 2O.-Son

IN very classy battles between
Hghtweights are scheduled fol
the latter part ofiFebruarE principally
the Johnny Griffiths-Joe Shugrue
match at Akron. Ohio. February p; the
Charlie White-Freddy Welsh bout ir
Milwaukee. February %; and the
Welsh-Wnlie Ritchie bout in New
Y Ork following closely after. The
greatest interest will be in the White
Welsh match, as it viii be at weight
this time and White is anxious to get
his chance against the champion before
Richie does. That is really the main
reason why White sought the match
for Milwaukee previous to the Welsh
Richie clash in New York
Charlie had been matched with
Welsh in New York for February 9. but
was taken i'll and had to call it off The
Madison Square Garden club asked for
a pOstpOnement but the match was
dropped for the time being and then
Richie was secured to meet the cham
pion. Nate Lewis, manager for White,
got busy and as a result the White
Welsh match was closed.
When these two boys met in Milwau-
kee last November it was at catch
weights, Welsh scaling in the afternoon
at al, while White was under 1876 by
a pound or more. In that battle White
made a splendid finish in the ninth and
tenth rounds and many claimed he had
the best of il. while others claimed a
draw, at least However, the writer
gave the verdict to Welsh, as it was ev-
ident he had the contest on points up
10 the final session and White could
not overcome the lead in one round
VIII Fight on Even Terms
With Welsh at lS5 pounds there viii
be little TO choose between them as re-
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; and
If he does it viii be a grand contest
and the Chicago boy will then have a
chance to show how near he can come
to putting the Welshman out Of the
running in a limited round bout.
shugrue VIII Be Busy.
Griffiths has proved his class and Will
keep Mr.. Shugrue very busy when they
clash at Akron. Shugrue has twice
met Welsh and there has been a dis
pute as to who had the shade. Grlf-
fifths, too, has met the champion and he
was credited with having the shade in
3 y round go. Shugrue will find that
Johnny has a left hand that is Just
about as fast as that Of Welsh. Wheth-
Or Ritchie can make the pace fast
enough in a 10 round bout to get
Welsh is question. Wine mas not
been boxing much since early last
fail and his judgment Of distance may
be off. If it is he viii find Welsh a
very hard man to reach. Unless Wllne
puts over lucky punch the chances
are that Welsh viii outpOint him again
Richie should have a marathon bout
against the champion to show his. real
worth. As a fighter, Richie is there
with the goods, but he is nowhere near
as clever as Welsh. and in a short bout
his chance Of winning is very slim.
No Chance for Griffiths.
There seems to be considerable con-
froversy among boxing fans regarding
the recent u round contest between
Freddy Welsh. worlds lightweight
champion, and Johnny Griffiths, one Of
the contenders for the title, as to
whether Griffiths would have been
recognized as worlds champion had he
scored a knockout over Welsh. As
the match was not at weight nor ad-
vertised as a championship affair, it is
hard to figure out how Griffifths could
claim the worlds title.
Of course there are many writer's
who would no doubt recognize Johnny
as the champion if he had scored a
knockout but technically he would not
be. A fighter, to gain the champion
ship, is supposed to be matched up &C
cording to the weight of the class he
may be in and as a rule all title bouts
are never less than 20 rounds. Boxers
may claim all they please, but that does
not make them champions.
Would Have to Beat Champion.
Had Welsh and Griffiths been fighting
at the stipulated weight Of the light
weight class it would then have the
semblance of title match, even if the
Of rounds were reduced. and a
knockout by the Akron boy would have