BOXING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 145, 14 November 1914, Page 7

BOXING.

I UiillT-WKIOHT CIIAMIMONSIIII'. ■ IXTiOKKM'iXi; ,A.\IKIiIC'AX XOTI.S. According to news received by the latest mail from. America, a contest of unusual interest is being held in Chicago. It is a. ten-round bout between "Freddy"' Welsh, light-weight champion of tin: | world, am! -Charley" White, who trouncj ed '-Willie"" Ritchie in a no-decision bout shortly before Ritchie lost the world's j champion, hip to Welsh. A Chicago dis- | patch savs that the men are to woi'di in at list 71b. Welsh is to receive 32',',. per cent, of the gate receipts, and White 271/;, per cent. A surprising thing about this announcement is that tiie match is lo he of ten rounds. When Welsh beat Ritchie White proclaimed that he eager to cone.st the championship, and he, or his manager, expressed confidence in his , ability to heat Welsh in a twenty-round . contest. Welsh announced that he would ■ give White a,: opportunity to box for the championship. Yet, we find them signing up—as-■timing the Chicago report to be correct—for a ten-rounds aflair. That means that to win the championship this time White has to knock out WV.sh inI side of ten rounds. And he has given no indication that ho can do that.

AN UNI-XPI-CTEI) CIIAL[. ! :XCE. Welsh is also being challenged from a rather unexpected quarter. 1? this challenge results in a oolites;' being arranged, it should provide one of the greatest light-weight battles in the history of modern boxing. Put—the 'if is a big one. It has yet to :,e piovci that the challenge is a genuine one for it comes from "Packey"' McFirlaiel,' the prince of American boxers, and of lute MeFarland's mind has been rather variable.

As most boxing cntliusiiisi-i know. McFarland occupies a rather peculiar position in ring history. Xominclly, he is a light-weight, and lie has alwav's declared that he could "make'' the American and English light-weight limit, which is really !)st 01b, although some American ' holders of the world's championship have forced opponents to weigh in at fist 71b. But McFarland's weight nas never been satisfactorily proved, an 1 tie; fact that, although he is recognised as the cleverest boxer in America, a man with a punch, too, ho has never fought for the light-weight title, has intensified the ; suspicion that he is not a genuine lightweight. He has fought feather-wights, light-weights, and welter-weights, 'and he has never been beaten in a hour in " which a referee's decision was given. Three or four months ago, MeV.ivl.ind married the daughter of a deceased hanker, and announced that he had retired ,; from the ring in order to look- afer ins ' wife's financial interests and his oivn, for ; "Packey" has gathered in some little wealth during his boxing career. He started on a tour round the world, with his bride, but on reaching Yokohama hedecided that the safest place during these troublous times is the United States, and so he and his wife turned back. He was in San Francisco for -;ev- : era! weeks before he spoke of limiting /, again. Then he suddenly came out with a declaration that he wanted to win the world's light-weight championship and would post a side-bet of £SOOO for a fight with Welsh. This announcement was the result of conversations with "Billy" Nolan, the former manager of "Battling" Nelson and "Willie' lUtchie. Nolan is, so it is stated, to act as MacParland's manager in the quest of the ' light-weight title.

Thrice already have McFarlaud and ' Welsh fought, but long before Welsh ' won the world's title. Their first meeting occurred in 1908, when they met in a ten-rounds bout in Milwaukee. The referee was Malachy Hogan, of Cliiaiino —McFarland's home town—and when he gave the decision to MacFarland he was hissed and jeered. It was contended that Welsh should have been given the decision in the fifth round, when no was fouled, and that at the end of the eontest he should have been given at least a draw. A little later in that year the pair fought twenty-five rounds iu Los ■Angeles, and "Jim" Jeffries declared a draw. In 1910 they met in London, and again, at the end of twenty rounds the 1 verdict was a draw.

MACFARLAND TALKS. Now, let the San Francisco Examiner tell the story of interviews with MacFarland and Nolan:—

-Nobody in the world except myself knows what I weighed in matches where weighing in was not required," said MacFarland. "The notion got around that | was a welter-weight. But when I had to make the weight I did it. I made flst 91b f„ r Freddie Welsh in London, and L can do it now.

"11l tell you what I will do. I will make flst 91b at J o'clock for Welsh, and I will make it just as easily as Freddie Hill. I am always in condition, and the reason I have not made weight recently is that 1 did not have to, i;::d nobody cared what I weighed as long as I went into the ring and boxed. "Welsh's manager (Pollock) says thai be wants a side bet of £3OOO if anybody wants to box Freddie for the lightweight championship. Xolan and I will take that bet, and we will post the money-real money and not the conversational kind. I have boxed Welsh three tunes, and each time I have bested him 1 can do it again, and if the light-weight championship is at stake T will win in SS. a -ay. that there will he no argu-

WILL BOX AXY DISTANCE. /Tollock has said that Welsh will box fwtchie to a finish. I'll box any distance, he wants. Twenty rounds' or a finish fight; it's all the same to me" MacKarlaud is a young men. He is only 2o years of- age, and there is not a mark on Iran to show that he has been through hundreds of boxing contests. iJis bands are uninjured, a state o" af fairs which lie attributes to the tuition given him in the art of hittin.. bv George Dawson and Joe C'liovnski. " "" JfacFarlaud is willing to' go to Australia in case the match with Wek'i rm not be staged in the States. When •Wy> Baker, the Australian promoter, was in the United States last summer he exerted his best endeavors to get MacFarland-to sign up f„ r ;1 t ,.' jp to the Antipodes, but at that time Packey" was busy with his own affairs He was preparing to get married, and Jiaken could not make arrangements to bring the wizard of the ring to the land of the Southern Cross.

"Any time that 'Harry' Pollock shows an inclination to send his light-wei"ht champion into the ring we are roadv"to talk terms with him, and we will p o =t just as much money as Pollock and Welsh want to offset. 'Packey' is i„ his prime, and wo can make the wehdit winch Pollock has asked Ritchie «, agree to. Also he will not reduce; far enough to. affect his strength. 'Packey'as a light-weight, and.if given a. clianed will