Fight:144226
Freddie Welsh 135 lbs beat Charley White 134 lbs by PTS in round 20 of 20
- Date: 1916-09-04
- Location: Ramona A.C. Arena, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
- Referee: Billy Roche
- Fight by rounds: [1]
World Lightweight Title
Just before the fight got underway, a section of the arena gave way; two people were killed and hundreds more injured.
Welsh back-pedaled throughout the bout while White was the aggressor. When the referee gave the decision to Welsh a riot broke out. The fighters, referee, sports writers and others were forced to seek cover under the wood platform.
There was disagreement among ringside reporters as to who deserved the decision:
- J.W. Stout (Colorado Springs Gazette), Otto Floto (Denver Post), Ed W. Smith (Chicago American), Walter Bratz (Salt Lake Telegram), Francis Albertanti/Left Jab (New York Evening Mail) scored the bout for Welsh.
- E.C. Day (Denver Times), Harry Hochstadter (Chicago Evening Post), Associated Press scored the bout in favor of White.
- Pyke Johnson (Denver Rocky Mountain News), Sam P. Hall (Chicago Examiner), Ray C. Pearson (Chicago Tribune), Bill Foreman (Chicago Herald), Buck Krause (Kansas City Star) thought a draw decision would have been fair.
Denver Post also listed opinions of several experts who were at ringside, all scoring the bout in favor of Welsh: Baron Long (Los Angeles), Spider Kelly (San Francisco), Jack Kearns, Fred Windsor.
Denver Rocky Mountain News quoted its former boxing expert, famous referee Abe Pollock, as scoring the bout for White (10-2-8 by rounds).
There soon were rumors that this bout had been fixed [2], and that boxing in Colorado Springs would be dead for years to come. [3]