A BRILLIANT VICTORY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 164, 17 August 1914, Page 4

A BRILLIANT VICTORY.

WELSH'S DEFEAT OF RITCHIE. A few weeks ag) cablegrams from London showed that Freddy Welsh's six-years' quest of the light-weight championship of the w r orld had finished with a points victory over American Willie Ritchie. Now the mails bring long accounts of the fight, and from them it is tfident that Welsh scored a brilliant victory. The Von Moltke of the Ring.

Writing in "Boxing," A. G. "Smiler") Hales, the well-known exAustralian war correspondent —he has been a pugilist and many other things too—says that Welsh not only beat Ritchie with hands and feet, but with brains. "That was the whole secret of last night's fight. Welsh took his head into the ring, and kept it there with him. He is the Von Moltke of the roped arena, and his Welsh fire and dash backed up his brains. There is no man living to-day in his class who has a hope with him on the form he showed last night. There was' sting and snap in his punches, too —far more so than I had expected to see. In the sixth round the hope that had buoyed up Ritchie nearly bore fruit. He caught Fred napping, and his massive right came across like a mule-kick and landed on Fred's jaw, but too up to be deadly; but it shook the Wizard to his socks, but he, too, is as game as anything born of a woman. He finessed and fought like, a great craftsman, and won out of a tight place, Once again, in the thirteenth round, Ritchie was very deadly; again he got his right home, and Fred rocked in his tracks; but these were only spasmodic efforts. On the general run of the great game Fred Welsh won in a walk, but until the gong sountled Ritchie was always dangerous. Had it gone to a finish Welsh would have punched the life out of his man, for he was his master. It was a fine, clean fight from start to finish, and the best man won, and would win if they fought a hundred times; but it thrilled the blood to see those game and gallant fellows striving for n.astery. Their fairness, their manliness was a lesson to the two nations that bred them. No flashihess in victory, no cringing in defeat. We can hail the victor with pleasure, and grip the hand of the boxer with pride, for, by all that is holy, he's a man. every inch of him."

Welsh Forces the righting. ■Here :is an extract from another report of the contest —it is from the ; 'Dailv News and Leader".:—

'' Early on Welsh. forced the fight, and in a clinch he brought his left up like lightning to the face. He was much quicker, and showed a more varied attack in the opening round, while Ritchie's attempts to land with the left on the stomach and the right on the jaw were easily foiled. It" was Welsh's round easily, but then the-American is notoriously a bad starter, and he also got much the worse of the next two rounds. Welsh was altogether too quick and too clever for him.

14 After losing so badly in the opening three rounds, the American came up with the evident intention of forcing the pace, but Welsh had the same notion, aud the latter fairly puzzled him with" his tactics. One sounding smash on the nose with the left went to. the credit of Welsh, who laughed and danced round his man with extraordinary ease. A close quarters Eitchie seemed absolutely at sea. He tamely fibbed Welsh on the back of the head and made a tremendous swing with the right, only to miss by a foot. He laughed at this, but subsequently cast a rather serious glance to his seconds. Towards the bell Mr Gorri, in trying to part the boxers in a clinch, nearly caught one on the jaw for his pains, and the round ended on a note of amusement- for everybody present. In the fifth round Welsh still kept on adding to his lead, and Riich'.o, unable to solve the increasing puzzle of superiority, aimed two fierce rights at the jaw, which his man minimised by stepping back. Before the end of the round Welsh crossed the champion, with his left, and put in some hard work at in-fighting. Ritchie's Dangerous Sight.

"The ehampion was certainly made to look a very poor boxer, whatever his fighting qualities might; be. He did, however, land a right on Welsh's eheek, and the challenger came up for "the sixth with blood flowing there. Ritchie did something for his own account in this round, and twice he got heme "with very dangerous rights, while the. general trend of his display seemed improved. The bridge of Welsh's nose was bleeding now, and a rather grim expression crept into his face. All the craft was with Welsh, and he revelled in the in-fighting, but Ritehie made occasional use of a beautiful straight left that came out like lightning. '' Welsh took the seventh round with a clear margin, his speed being very noticeable towards the bell, while he landed some extraordinary clever blows at awkward angles when at close quarters. Eitchie did a lot of holding in the eighth round, and twice Welsh caught him on the stomach. Welsh had half a dozen blows to the champion's one, in the matter of variety, and as he was chased round the ring Eitchie appeared quite ignorant of how to apply the proper counter, to""-them all. Running No Risks.

"There was more intelligence behind the Englishman's work, and Ritchie, realising this, became afraid to risk his right. "In the ninth round Welsh landed so frequently with his left that he made the American's mouth bleed badly, and at this stage the championship appeared to be decidedly drifting towards old England. Ritchie stabbed in a left, but the. round belonged to Welsh by a street, and he was cheered enthusiastically at the interval. "In the first fifteen seconds of the tenth round Welsh landed half a dozen clean, honest blows, and, looking over the shoulders of his distressed opponent, he grinned at the excited spectators in the best Johnsonian manner. The round finished with a wild bit of fighting with both hands, in which the wonderful defence of Welsh Avas very noticeable, and as Ritchie went to his corner a regular cascade from half a dozen sponges gave him a Avelcome reviver.

Welsh WeU Ahead. * f There Avas more feinting in the eleventh rouud, and Welsh, having \von the first half of the contest by the most generous margin, made more~ase of the

ring. Bitchie forced the pace hotly now, and owing to the retreating policy of Welsh appeared to secure this round by a slight margin. Defence was now the strong suit- of Welsh, and the campaign had apparently entered on a new phase. Welsh was holding on to what he had gained, but after neatly avoiding a couple of well-meaning rights and a nasty left upper-cut he landed six or seven lefts in succession on Ritchie#s face, which was bleeding badly. ''"The American's seconds had told him to go in and fight, but, however willing he was, he could not find his elusive man, and when it came to mixing it Welsh knew more of the game than he did. Ritchie tried hard to wovk off his right upper-cut, and twice in the fourteenth round he rattled the challenger with thumps on the side of the head, but whetr he tried to chase Welsh round the ring he "had not the pace to catch kisri. "It had been'a realty fight so far for the referee, who only had to occasionally call for a break. There was an impression in the sixteenth round that Bitchie's head was doing something it shouldn't, but Welsh was faring so much beyond expectations that a little thing like that did not matter.

Another Gallant Effort. "In the seventeenth round Ritchie made another gallant effort to turn the swelling tide, but Welsh was marvellously fast .still—as fast as he had been at the start. His strength was well maintained against the younger man, and a right smash from the English champion covered Ritchie .'s face with blood. He looked a sad sight for a champion, but he was fighting desper--ately, conscious enough, believe me, that the boxing, sceptre of the lightweights was slipping from his grasp. The balance and debit account was plain for all to read, but in the Welsh corner there was! no anticipatory elation Indulged in. Fights have been won in the twentieth round before now, and they were taking.no risks in; the Welsh camp. "At the close of the nineteenth round Welsh permitted himself/a glad wave of the hand to all and in the twentieth, which was fought at a terrific pace, he muttered to Ritchie, 'You're not champion, Willie. I'm: champion!' And so it was; There was no need to point out the winner, and Ritchie quickly disappeared, leaving Welsh almost breathless, but hugely happy over his well-won honour."