The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1923-10-20
W dLker to
Haze Busy
Ring Year
Many High-Class Men in
145-Pound Division Are
After Crown
BY JOE WILLIAMS

MRS. WALKERS littte boy
A'A Mickey is in for a tough time
Of it.
The welterweIght division Of which
he II king is enjoying an unprece-
dented frenzy Of prosperity. A year
or 80 ago you could count all the
frst.claas welterwelghts in the world
without getting far beyond the
numeral two. When you listed Jack
Britton and Ted Lewis. in the order
named, you were thru.
Now there are more welterweIgfts
than you can shake gnaried hlck.
DRY stick al. Where Britton had
nobody 10 fight except his roommate
and boon companions, the distin.
guished Mr.. Lewis Walker, the cur.
rent champion. seeing TO have the
whole world 10 fight.
II he so desires Walker has II
within his power to make the wei.
terwelght division extremely popu-
lar. Heretofore II has been about
as popular as a spanking board in
the coal shed.
We seem TO recall that Packey
Mcfarland, gifted Illinois brewer,
declined TO have the title as a pres
ent some years ago. preferring TO be
known simply as contender for
the lightweight title rather than the
welterweight champion.
Even Mike Gibbons. ambitious as
he was, took no particular pains to
win the title. Being gents Of culture
and high principles they declined to
strive for a position that carried all
honor and no money.
But the situation has changed
Eomewhat in recent months. Pugllis-
tic fields are groaning under the
weight OF bumper welterweight crops
and IL Walker steps out and meets
the deserving challengers, one after
the other. or vice verso, the fistic
bugs VIII begin TO storm the turn.
stiles. just as they did year ago
when Joe Lynch and Jack Sharkey
put the bantamwclght class back on
its feet.
Dave Shade. the Coast boy who is
now New York resident, is prob
ably Walkers most dangerous con.
tender. A bout between Shade and
Walker would draw a packed en-.
closure. Paul Doyle is another New
York resident OF extraordinary abil-
ity as ringster.
New Jersey offers George Ward.
an old schoolboy rival OF the cham.
pion. Ward and Walker have had
many tumultuous battles. Walker is
the better boxer. but Ward can hit
just as hard. IL not harder.
Boston has Eddie Shevlin and
Nate Seigel. Ohio has Jimmy Jones,
a youngster who looks like a real
conner. and Johnny Karr. a freak
fighter of the Dundee-Greb type st.
Paul dominates Jock Malone and
Johnny Tillman. The latter is about
thru. Malone fought some OF his
best fights last year.
From Buffalo come Jack Perry
and frankie Schoell. Perry isn't the
fighter he was two years ago. One
night at Toledo he had Britton on
the floor and the title almost in his
hand. but the Old Master out
smarted him.
Philadelphia, home of hundreds OF
professional fighters. can offer but
one welterweight candidate. Joe
Jackson. And nobody seems to know
just how good or bad ]. ]. is.
other 147 Founders who are will.
ing TO step into the ring with Mrs.
Walkers little bcy--who used to be
pln-setter in Newark, n. j..
bowling alley, by the way-are the
Latzos of Scranton, Pete and Steve.
Morris Schlaifer and Cowboy Padgett
of Omaha. Ray Long of Kansas
City. Pinkey Mitchell OF Milwaukee.
Ray Pyrell of Pittsburg. Billy Ryan
OF Cincinnati. Johnny Riley e OF
Wilkes. Barre. Travie Davis OF Port
land. Billy Wells of England and the
well.known others.
And say, don't overlook me,
pipes up the aged and venerable old
Jack Britton. II amt thru yet, even
IL / am 40 years old. This dude
Walker didn't hurt me at all. except
in the 18th round when he scored
that knockdown, and / think | can