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RITCHIE AFTERTHE EASY MONEYWILLING TO MKKT WOLGAST iS JiKTL'H.Y MIlT.Uurdly Possible That Me Far laud mid \imv C.'lmmpi'n Will Meet..San Francisco. Fa!., Dee. It'.— Willie Kit chic, lightweight champion of the world, intends to make hay | while the sun shines. The San Fran-' cisco hoy who won the title from I Ail Wolgast on Thanksgiving day; on a foul is going out. after all the jkalo that, his new position can command. and as long as the shekels no mo his way he will not be oontent ,10 remain idle.! That is tin; plan that Ritchie and liia manager, Billy Nolan, have i mapped out. The champion quickly : has learned that a titleholder is in : demand and he is out for all the coin that he can glean from the boxing game. Tie knows that a fighter must get all he can just as quickly as he can, for the life of a champion Is short at best.The first step taken by Ritchie is the. natural one. He is appearing on the stage in San Francisco, where he is drawing $1,50U a week, it is reported. Although he intends to grab off all this “easy money he can, he is not going to allow anything in the way of remunerative matches to get away from him.Demands $10,000 for Bout.As evidence that Willie intends tobe an active champion, it is worthy of note that Billy Gibson, the New York promoter, offered him a match with some unnamed easterner for the near future. Ritchie immediately wired that he w'ould accept if the promoter would guarantee him$10,000 for his end, win, lose or draw. That’s the talk of a champion, all right, but Gibson could not see things from the same money viewpoint as Ritchie and wired hack, “Nothing doing.Now that Ritchie has entered the circle of champions he is going to make pugilism a business. Just about a year ago when Willie was in Chicago he expressed a few views on the game which are interesting now that he is lightweight champion.\t that time Ritchie said:I’m pretty young in the game and I don’t know how far I can go .in it. Of course, I’m like the majority of other fighters and think that perfcapa I might be a champion some day. So I’m going to keep at it and see where I land. I can make more money fighting that I can as an automobile mechanician, so I intend to make fighting a business just the same as I would any other line.Willing to Meet Wolgast.It appears that Ritchie intends to follow out the plans that he mapped out a year ago as far as business is concerned. He declares that he is more than willing to give Wolgast a return match and that he also is open to meet any one else who is eager for a chance at his title.As far as the possibility of a return go with Wolgast is concerned, it is not likely that the two will get together for some time. Jim Coff-roth, the San Francisco promoter, had booked Wolgast for a New Year’s day fight, but a couple of days’ ago Tom Jones, the former chain-! pion’s manager, called it off. saving j that Wolgast'a right arm had stlf-fened and that ho would be unable to fight.There is some talk of a tilt between Ritchie and Packey McFarland. but those who know do not look for any such contest to come off. The champion has laid down the law as far as weight is concerned. and in doing so practically has eliminated Packey. Ritchie demands the genuine lightweight limit of 1S3 pounds, which he made easilj for Wolgast. and there is no one who believes that Packey could make that, notch and be strong enough to fight.There was no more tickled person in the world than Packey McFarland! when Ritchie won from Wolgast. i Packey thinks the world of Willie! and has been his greatest booster^ since he really got started in thegame.J-4 •1
Newspaper Details
Waterloo Evening Courier
Waterloo, Iowa, US
Thu, Dec 19, 1912
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
John H.
IL, USA 29 Dec 2017
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