New-York tribune., 1919-04-29
Newark Fans
See a Stirring
Battle in Ring
Leonard Furnishes Rival
From Coast Severely
Throughout the Bout
By Fred Hawthorne

A'Si"J AcOHdIu, lightweight cham-
pion of the world, scored technical
knockout over Willie Ritchie, former
champion, in their eight-round bout
at the Newark Sportsmen's Club in
Newark last night. Forty seconds be-
fore the bell sounded the end of the
last round "Slim" Brennan, the
referee, jumped in between the totter-
ing Ritchie and the tigerish Leonard
and stopped the fight. There was only
one thing to do and Brennan did it, for
the game Californian was absolutely
helpless before the furious ONSLAUGHT
of blows that Leonard was shooting at
him.
All through the preceding part of
the round Ritchie was tottering on
his feet, his eyes glazed, his hands
hel pless at his sides, while Leonard
home blows to the jaw and to the
body. The fighting instinct alone
kept Ritchie on his feet. Several
times the ropes saved him from fall
ing, and he hardly had strength
enough to throw his arms around
Leonard, only to be thrown off by
the latter, who was eager to put
over the finishing punch
A Cruel Beating
Ritchie was beaten, beaten so
cruelty that, had he stood still for a
moment during the last half minute
of the fighting, he would have fallen to
the floor of the ring 1t was only by
staggering weakly about, sometimes on
his heels and again lurching forward
that he kept upright.
He literally went down with his
"shoes on" for he was leaning against
the ropes, unheeding of the rain of
blows that the champion hurled at his
face and body, when the end came
Leonard was the master of the sit
uation all the way through, with the
exception of the third round, which
was even. In this session Ritchie
shot over a terrific right cross to the
side of Leonard's jaw. The blow was
a heavy one and 'Benny's face went
white for q second, but ile plunged
right back into the milling and cvened
the score before the bell rang with
EARRING rights to the jaw.
Defeated though he was, Ritchie
never stopped trying for knockout.
IN Nto Aul lOUoly dSSl CSSINt all tIc
time, even when Leonard was dealing
out his hardest punishment, and two
or three times during the bout he
reused the great crowd of thirteen
thousand by desperate rallies, during
which he drove Leonard before him
by the herceness of his rushes.
But the Californian missed many
punches as the elusive champion slip
ped in and out of the zone Of fire, let
his head roll with the punches and
beat his opponent to the blow a dozen
lines as they exchanged in mid-rng
Only Question of Time
As early as the fourth round Leon
ard had Ritchie's measure, having
weakened his man with series of ter
rifle body blows and Earring uppercuts
to the jaw. He seemed to feel, then,
that it was only a question of when
he wished to end matters aud for the
next three rounds he took matters
easier, laying back and picking off
Ritche's blows with dazzling skill
stopping his continual forcing, how
ever. and kept piling into Benny every
second OF the fighting He missed d
dozen blows for every one That he
landed but even this did not serve to
discourage him, anI he fought 80
Iefeely That leonard had to be con
sSah'ls 0h guard lest 0he Of Wille's
Nlld ones should connect on the danger
spet;
~ the second round leonard afief
taxing several Nf l{llehle's hardest
"a the jaw all through The FIRST
two and q hAlr minutes Nf The session,
came haek llereelN just before the bell
and sent terrlhie left hook crashing
past Wlllle's guard, flush 10 the jaw,
The blow knocked Hltchie ON his
back, near the ropes, his head striking
the padded floor with thud. Leonard
stepped back and Brennan began the
count, Ile had reached "siX" when
Ritchie rolled over on his side and rose
to one knee, in which position he re
Oft. A furious mix-up followed, but
the bell rang before Leonard could con
meet on vital spot
Thereafter Ritchie, although he con
tinued to force matters, kept his Jaw
we'll protected until his head cleared
After the sixth round he seemed to
realize that his only chances lay in
sending home one master punch, and
he took desperate chances to send it
over. But Leonard was very cool as
he fenced skilfully with his opponent,
and in the clinchcs he was easily the
stronger of the two.
The boys weighed in at 3 o'clock in
the afternoon, the scales showing
Leonard at 1856 and Rtchie at 1882
pounds. Both appeared trained down
TO fine notch and carried no excess
flesh.