page_title: Freddie Welsh
section_title: Championship years and World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Freddie Welsh / Boxing career / Championship years and World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: Jimmy Welsh vs Benny Leonard.
context_page_description: Freddie Welsh was a Welsh World lightweight boxing champion. Born in Pontypridd, Wales, he was nicknamed the "Welsh Wizard". Brought up in a tough mining community, Welsh left a working-class background to make a name for himself in America. He turned professional as a boxer in Philadelphia in 1905, and spent the best part of his career fighting in the United States.
  Welsh spent much of his career chasing the world championship title, held in turn by Battling Nelson, Ad Wolgast and Willie Ritchie, failing through a series of events to meet each until a successful encounter with Ritchie in July 1914, when he finally became world lightweight champion. Welsh held the title until 1917 when he lost to Benny Leonard, though he continued to fight sparingly until 1922. During his career, he fought in more than 160 professional bouts, suffering defeat on just 5 occasions.
  A keen follower of Bernarr Macfadden's physical culture, Welsh believed in exercise and healthy living and was a non-smoker and a vegetarian. In the years following the end of his career, bad business choices cost him his fortune, and after numerous health problems he died in poverty in 1927.
context_section_description: Just 25 days after becoming lightweight champion, Germany declared war on Russia, and the Great War began. His expected payout touring theatres was curtailed and he lost more than $50,000 in music hall engagements alone. Thanks to a manager of the White Star Line, he, Fanny and Elizabeth obtained first class passage to America on the Olympic. In some sections of the sporting press he was accused of cowardice for not joining the British Army. Welsh countered that he undertook numerous engagements to rally support for troops and stated "I can do far more for my country out of the trenches than in them."
  In 1914 only two U.S. states allowed twenty round championship bouts to a verdict, Colorado and Louisiana, and no promoters in either state were offering large enough purses to risk losing the championship title for. To earn as much money as he could from being the champion, Welsh fought in as many ten round 'no verdict' matches as he could. As long as he was on his feet at the end of the ten rounds, he could not lose his title. Still, Welsh wanted to show he was not going to choose soft opposition and began a series of bouts against serious contenders. His first defence was against Matty Baldwin on 27 October in Boston, a match he won on points. This was followed six days later by a contest against Al Wolgast, the former champion who had avoided Welsh when he had the title to lose. The fight was a near sell out at Madison Square Garden in New York, with the crowd firmly behind Wolgast. Although the first few rounds were fairly even between the two fighters, at the end of the fifth round Wolgast blocked an uppercut with his right arm. The blow broke his ulna three inches (76 mm) above the wrist, forcing Wolgast to box on with just his left hand. Wolgast kept on fighting but could not continue after the eighth.
  A week later Welsh faced Charley White, the man most sports-writers believed was the natural contender for the lightweight title. The ten round bout, held in Milwaukee, was a one-sided affair with Welsh landing four times as many punches as White. Despite White having the stronger punch, it was not until the tenth that he managed to draw blood, and many writers failed to give him even one round.
  Welsh was expected to retire in 1915, with Harry Pollok stating that he planned to fight on four more occasions before leaving the sport. However, he continued fighting and retained the title until May 1917, when he was knocked out at the Manhattan Athletic Club by Benny Leonard, the first time in his career that he had been stopped. Leonard was deemed to have controlled the fight. After being floored in the ninth round, Welsh had risen back to his feet and absorbed even more blows before the referee called a halt to the bout.
caption: Welsh vs Leonard 1917
exif: {}