A GREAT BATTLE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 138, 17 July 1914, Page 3

A GREAT BATTLE.

WHITE'S DEFEAT OF RITCHIE. BEATEN MAN FINISHES WELL. The following interesting summingup of the great light-weight battle which took place in Milwaukee, U.S.A., on May 26 is from the pen of Mr L. 6. Sullivan, of the Chicago '' Daily /News'.?: —■;' '....■<-'.. "Charlie White, of Chicago, may not be light-weight champion of the world to-day, but it k was fortunate for Willie Ritchie last evening that referees' decisions are not permissible under the Wisconsin boxrng law. If they were Referee. Harry Stout would be in , the unenviable position of being forced to hand one man fame and fortune which he must take from another. For White outpointed Ritchie so far. that no other decision could have been rendered. WHITE'S HAND IS HURT.

"Had. not White hurt his right hand early in the bout his shade over Ritchie probably would have been apparent. When Charlie came to-his corner "at the end of the third round, he exclaimed to Nate Lewis, his manager:— " 'Nate, my right hand hurts. I'll have to go through with my left." "Thereafter he used his left only as a club. - Examination after White's bandages had been removed showed his right hand badly swollen, but no bones broken. ' CALLS FOE A LONGER BOUT. "It will take a longer bout than ten rounds to determine whether the lightweight crown belongs to the Chicagoan or the Californian. For as surely as White outpointed Ritchie, so surely did Ritchie come from behind against almost insuperable odds and finished stronger than his opponent. It may have been extremely fortunate for the Chicagoan that the contest did not go a couple of rounds further, but then there is a saying in fistiana that there's .no use of fighting at a twenty-round pace when a bout is limited to ten.

. "White did just exactly as he said he was going to do —win with his left hand. It was the old left hook which brought Ritchie to terms in the first round, and if White had fought with as much cleverness and coolness for the last ninety seconds of that round as he did for the remaining nine Ritchie might have been shorn of his laurels via the knockout route. When the champion plunged through the ropes towards the finish of the first round he looked as nearly out as it is possible to look without lying stretched on the canvas. White lost his only chance for a knockout right then by swinging wildly instead of measuring his i>unches, as' a coming champion should do. RITCHIE'S PUNCHES LACK STEAM. . "Ritchie, it is true, landed more frequently, than did White, but his punches did not carry the damaging effect of the : Chieagoan's. Most of Ritchie's blows were straight lefts, and did snot even put Charlie's, smiling, countenance. Charlie's iface was swollen as he left the ring, but aside from a slight cut on his right cheek he was unmarked. "Ritchie, on the other hand, was a gory spectacle. Bleeding from the nose and lips, with both eyes swollen, blue, and almost shut, it looked as if it would be several days before he would be in condition to appear in polite society. PUNCH THAT TOLD STORY. '' White's snappy left hook to the jaw in the middle of the first round was the punch which told the story. Ritchie came back strong in the second and third rounds, but after that first round he did his level best to keep out of range of White's portside gun. Even with all his striving, however, he was unsuccessful, and time after time the challenger rocked his head with the snappy six-inch blow. "It is to Ritchie's everlasting credit that he made the showing he did. "With both eyes almost closed from White's punching, he made a rally in the closing rounds which brought the spectators to their feet in wild excitement. v Seemingly, from the fifth round ou, the champion grew stronger with each minute he stayed in the ring, and it is easy to see how he won the championship from Wolgast after being all but knocked out in ten rounds. More than one person left the ring with the firm conviction that Ritchie is too foolish to risk his title in a ten-round bout. Twenty rounds is far more to his class and speed. "Those 3000 fans who made the muggy trip from Chicago to Milwaukee were well paid for the discomforts incurred by the intense heat. From gong to gong it was a battle to stir the blood of the most sluggish. There never was

a moment that the two men were not at it hammer and tongs, and there was not ' a moment that the throng, despite efforts by the police to quell it, was not cheering and shouting madly. "Those who failed to attend on account of the weather will regret it today, and for several days to come, for their friends will tell them they missed one of the prettiest encounters staged in a middle western ring for many a long day. THE SPOIL. '' Promoter Tommy Andrews alone has the right to lack enthusiasm. When Ritchie and White stepped in the ring Andrews declared a count of noses showed 5000 persons, and 14,000 dollars in the house. Another 1000 dollars may have drifted in after this, but figuring on the 14,000 dollar basis, with Ritchie's guaranty and White's 221 percent., the principals drew down 13,150 dollars, leaving Andrews the munificent sum of 850 dollars to pay for five preliminary bouts between good boys and the rent of the auditorium, to say nothing of preliminary expenses for printing and others. If Tom can do that on "650 dollars he is a financial genius. Otherwise he had to dig down into the bank roll to the extent of a couple of thousand dollars."