The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-01-26
Corbett's Daily Letter
 On Great Sport Topics
By JAMES J. CORBETT

insist that Freddie embark in the profes- sional end of the game. Freddie finally yielded and mingled in his first profes- sional engagement in 1905, when he was l9 years old.
 A rather tough "ham an warrior named Young Williams was delegated to l try him out. Williams lasted just three rounds with Welsh, and never once dur ing the entire session of battling was he able to lay glove upon the shifty 1 Welshman, who then fought as a feather weight. That success encouraged Welsh that he made match a few weeks later with Johnny Kelly, and whipped him decisively Then followed a knock out victory over Eddie Foy in five rounds.
 The rise of Welsh in the pugilistic ranks from then on was somewhat sensa- l tional. He quickly emerged from the pre- l lminary class and began fighting in main bouts. He took on all of the tough men | in the east and west and when he had cleaned up the aspiring feathers, he be- lgan tackling lghtweights, even though he had to spot" them from six to eight pounds.
 Late in 1906 cablegram apprisins Welsh of the illness of his mother l caused him to return to Wales. Soon after he arrived in Great Britain, fight | success, sought Welshs services. Fred die accepted match with Seaman Hayes and fought his first battle on English | soil on February 13, 1907. Hayes out weighed Welsh nearly 15 pounds, but Freddie whipped him in six rounds | Freddie then accepted other engage l men.s-and nj all of them he was a winner. Soon England was as en- 1 thusiastic about him were the Americans, Freddie in those days was a knock 'em dead fighter, one with 1 a really powerful wallop and he 1 sent one foe after another to dream | land.
 | Many men who saw Welsh in action | through 1905, 9O6 and 1907 insist that l Welsh could drive a blow just about as hard as 90 per cent of the sluggers of his time.
 l A few weeks previously Welsh had stopped Joe White in 36 rounds. This l caused the supporters of Freddie to | comm ent profusely on his hitting pow l CT. Friends of White took exception to this attitude and an argument fol- finally boasted:
 "Welsh can whip any two men that you fellows can trot forth--and do it on the same night and in the same ring and in less than 20 rounds"
 The White followers accepted the def and then It was up to Freddie to make good Welsh showed no hesi-
 tancy in tackling the job, and made n
 side bet of $250 that he would ac- comp,ish the trick. Whites friends
 selected Gunner Hart, welterweight
 champion of the British navy, who out
 weighed Welsh IS pounds, and Arthur
 Ellis. another champion, who had i.
 on Freddie more than 10 pounds in
 bulk.
 It looked like an almost impossible
 task for featherweight to dispose ot
 a welterweight champion and 13S-
 pounder champion in less than 20
 rounds--but Welsh accomplished il ! without much effort He battered Hart into sumbisson during the third round
 and then, almost without a rest, took
 on Ellis and stopped him in five | rounds.
 The performance of Welsh that nignt stamped him as man of real hitting
 power Welsh had he so willed, nigh
 have continued as a knockout pheno,f
 for many years. But he concluded tha
 the better plan was to conserve hi'
 energies so as to last the maximum
 distance in the ring. And so. iron
 then on. Freddie contented himsel