New Britain herald., 1914-07-11
twritten for tn. New Britain Herald.)

(vvritten for tho New Britain Herald.)
 New York, July 1.-The Georges Carpenter -Gunboat Smith match is the pugilistic feature for the coming week. London stages this battle also. ! Following so closely the big light weight international championship contest 1t would not have been sur- prising had this match suffered from lack of interest. but advices from abroad state that the two big fellows are attracting considerable attention from English devotees of the sport.
 A few days ago my attention was called to an interview published in an English newspaper in which Carpen- tier relieved himself of a few perti- nent remarks regarding his chances of defeating the Gunboat. Judging from the tone of the talk Georges is a very confident youth, or a concefted one, but when we also read that he has trained longer and more faithfully for this match than for any other in which he has ever engaged we can hardly credit some of the statements in the public interview.
 According to Carpenter, the Gun boat is hard hitter but altogether too slow to amount to much in the light ing line Therefore with his (Carpen- tier's) superior science and great speed the result of the bout is foregone conclusion. Of course with his num- erous advantages the battle can end in only one fashion-a Carpenter victory That is the way Georges tells it..
 Nowadays speed in the prize ring is measured by a different standard than in former years. A generation ago a boxer who was called fast gen. erally could step around pretty lively. Gunboat Smith, according to the stand ards of few decades back, would not be considered much in the speed line, but as they compute speed today he is not so far below the average. If Carpenter gets in the ring with Gun ner thinking Smith can't move around fast enough to get a punch over occa- sionally he Is going to be a very much surprised young man long before the first round is over. While Gunboat may not be able to step around as fast as a master of modern dances he IS farffrom being the slow moving. clum- sy plodder the British papers have been picturing him. Admitting Car pentier to be more scientific, he had better not take liberties with the Gun ner under the impression that the lat ter is a slow moving individual. When Smith gets chance to put his famous right over he can whip it across with as little loss of time as anyone in the game at the present time. And he doesn't waste any unnecessary steps in the operation either. The wild and reckless swinging that characterized his work year or two back has all most entirely disappeared. In recent battles, particularly those with Jim Flynn and Sam Langford, the Gun- boat surprised the fans by his skill and straight hitting. Smith is a better box CT than some of his earlier exhibitions indicate.
 The Gunboat has style pretty much his own-as nearly every great fighter has, Not that I am going on record that he is great ring man; he hasn't showed us that yet, but he has originality of method. which is some- thing, and in his case a very effective method 1t has proven so far in his career.
 I doubt if Carpentier has the stamina to weather twenty rounds with the hard hitting Gunner No doubt he has fair knowledge of box ing and can punch moderately hard. but past performances do not indicate that he is either the gamest or the sturdiest boxer in the game. While a majority of experts are not 1n- clined to figure his comparatively poor exhibitions with Frank Klaus and Billy Papke at their face value on ac- count of Georges alleged youth and inexperience it must be remembered that Carpenter has been boxing a number of years now In fact, he is a veteran compared with the Gunboat. He started as a. bantamweight eight years ago and has fought in all divi- sions up to the heavyweight class When excuses are made for him in the battles referred to, lack of ex- perience was given as the old alibi. But Georges can't plead that any longer. A boxer who has been: insthe game professionally for eight~years is far from a novice.
 Unless Carpentier makes a running