The Washington herald., 1917-05-29
Leonard's Right Wallop
Kayos Welsh in Ninth
Young Lightweight Puts the
Champion to Sleep in No
Decision" Battle.
Ry ARTHUR sTRUEWE.

| Technically Leonard did not knock out
Welsh, but he will receive credit for It,
When Kid Mcfarland, the referee.
stepped in In the ninth round Welsh was
all in. He could hardly stand. He was
so weak from Leonard's punches that he
staggered. held on to the ropes. But
Leonard kept boring in. 1t was no luke
victory.
For eight rounds the little New Yorker
had outboxed, outfought the Elglishman.
Welsh was tired and weak. The end
came In the first minute of the ninth
round.
They started with a clinch. and at the
break Leonard swung Welsh into his
own (Benny's) corner. He sent right
| to the chin and Welsh went down to his
knees. He was groggy. He came back
gamely, Strengthened up and reached for
leonard He wanted to get into
clinch.
But Benny stepped back and sent an
other crashing right to the Jaw. Welsh
\ dropped to the lower rope. Leonard
waited for him to get up. Leonard ham
mered him at will at close quarters. NC
| Partland stepped in and stopped the
| slaughter.
Harry Pollock, weIsh's manager. jump
| ed into the ring and carried Freddie to
his stool. Leonard retired to his own
corner for about Ave seconds. Then real
izing for the first time he was king OF
the lght-weights he walked over to his
beaten adversary and kissed him. Welsh,
game to the core, pulled himself to his
feet and offered a trembling hand to his
| conQueror.
For an instant the crowd could not real
| ize that the lightweight championship
crown again was to be worn by an
American. Then pandemonIum broke
|
| benches, yelled and threw their hats into
the air. They wanted to rush Leonard
on on their shoulders but his seconds pre-
| vented them.
! The ninth round had gone one minute
] and fifteen seconds when stopped. After
the fight Leonard said:
'I felt in my heart that I would be
the lightweight champion after tonight.
| I never lost that conviction. l am happy
beyond words that l have brought the
lightweight title back TO America l
want to pay tribute to Welsh. He is a
good game man, and l am only sorry
that had to climb over him to vic
tory"
welsh said:
feel that I did not get fair deal.
There never was a championship decided
without a man getting a count"
| Leonard was the first in the ring. He
was given a great ovation by the crowd
| A minute afterward Welsh came into
the ring. He was also given a great re-
Iception, but the enthusiasm was not near
so great as that given the New Yorker
The weights announced were: Welsh.
1Ss "a; Leonard. 18.
The fight by rounds:
| ROUND ONE-Leonard was the hrst 10
land. He sent two rights to the Jaw
| Welsh went into close quarters and oans-
| ed Ieonard's wind with few snort
rights. Leonard backed away and hook
ed two lefts to the mouth. He ducked
| right swing.
The lads were boxing carefully. Leon
ard sent hard right to the jaw which
made Welsh vince. Leonard's round.
| ROUND TWO-Leonard began by SEND
ing three lefts to the face and hooked
two rights to the jaw. He blocked
weIsh's leads Leonard then began TO
play for the body. not giving Welsh
chance to get set
Then followed a mix-up and the cham
pion came out of It with a smile, al
though he appeared wobbly. Leonards
round.
ROUND THREE-Leonard began again
to force matters He sent two rights to
the Jaw and an uppercut to the mouth
| Welsh came back and poked four blows
| to Leonard's wind. He followed this up
with two blows to the face.
A furious mix-up in the center of the
ring followed. Honors were even at the
| bell
ROUND FoUR-Leonard again started
the milling, jabbing four lefts to the face
and body. Welsh then got mad and
started to mix It up. He hooked two
rights to Ieonard's face, but Leonard
came back strong and forced welsh into
| a clinch at the bell Leonard's round.
FIFTH ROUND-Welsh came up re-
freshed from the minutes rest and start
ed IN by jabbing two lefts 10 the race.
| Leonard retaliated by sending a dozen
blows to the head almost closing Welsh's
left eye. Welsh however, came back and
sent in a few tabs at the bell, but 1t was
Leonard's round.
SIXTH ROUND-The lads did some
| careful boxing for about half a minute
| Leonard tried to swing haymaker on
Welsh's jaw. The champion, however,
was too clever for the New Yorker ana
| avoided going into dangerous ground.
Leonard then changed his tactics and
began to work his left, but again Welsh
| warded OF the blows. In the last ten
seconds Of the round Leonard worked
over two rights to the jaw and the round
| ended IN his favor.
SEVENTH ROUND-Leonard sent sew
ersl lsfts to the face but failed to reach
4 Iuo jaw WIN a A0SAoAN
| isft b ths head and sent another olow
to welsn's bad eye. Freddie sent nasty
right to the Jaw, but Leonard met him
with two more. Leonard's round
EIGHTH RoUND-Leonard chased
Welsh around the ring, sending In sew
eral short, snappy punches. Welsh was
strong, however, and came back near
the end Of the round with couple OF
left hooks to the mouth, but Leonard
waIloped him on the body and head with
lightning blows.
NINTH ROUND-Welsh missed two
straight lefts for the head but blocked
Leonard's right swing. Leonard Kept
| coming In and sent Welsh to his knees
with a hard right When Welsh got up
Leonard sent him reeling with Volley
| OF rights
The referee than stepped between them
| and stopped the bout. As the referee
released his hold on Welsh the latter
| reeled and would have fallen through the
ropes to the press stand but his seconds
Jumped into the ring and caught him In
time. Leonard wins in the ninth round.
AFTER CY'S IICORICE BALL"