GREAT BOXING CONTEST.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 686, 15 July 1914, Page 7

GREAT BOXING CONTEST.

LIGHT WEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP. WELSH DEFEATS RITCHIE. Fred Welsh, Britain, beat Willie Ritchie, America, for the world's light-weight championship in 20 rounds. Ten thousand were present, including many women, while a large contingent of Americans arrived to witness the contest. They stripped at nearly level weights. Welsh was a strong favourite, 6 to 4 being freely laid. Both defended finely in the early rounds, Welsh doing all the forcing. Welsh dodged a vicious straight right in the third round and twice rattled Ritchie's head with uppercuts.' ■';'.• Up .to the seventh Welsh scored in the infighting;' Ritchie was rather disappointing. Ritchie had the longer reach, but Welsh's cleverness enabled him to get inside his guard, and he severely" punished the American, landing him four stiff lefts on the face in the fourth round, finishing up with a splendid right, and Ritchie emerged the worse for wear his left eye being puffed and inflamed. Ritchie's ill-timed leads brought severe punishment. Ritchie improved in the eighth round and worked well to Welsh's body, but the latter cleverly retaliated, and the round was evenly contested. Welsh held a clear lead in the tenth round., and swung a left of tremendous power to Ritchie's jaw, following with a left to the body and another right to the jaw. Ritchie was nonplussed by the speed of the attack,and was outclassed for the remainder oi the round. In the eleventh the exchanges were even, and Ritchie boxed with more devil. In the twelfth Welsh escaped several dangerous swings. Ritchie realised that a knockout was his only chance, but Welsh evaded his effort, and cut his opponent's left eye in the fourteenth, but took several hard body jabs and a right uppercut. The next two rounds saw Welsh's flashing left play a tattoo on Ritchie's face. Ritchie thought be saw a chance with the right, and cut across like a flash, but Welsh cleverly ducked. The nineteenth was fast, and Welsh's ringcraft and speed were wonderful. He had Ritchie guessing all the time, and landed him two splendid lefts on the face and kept him on the defensive to the end.