The Washington herald., 1920-12-21
CARPENTER FINDS
DEMPSEY BOYlSH,
COURTEOUS RIVAL
Frenchman Writes I'm
pressions Of Title Holder /;
Lauds His Modesty.
BY GEORGES CARPENTER.
In Lsnasi Express.

| In Lenaen Express.
LONDON. Dec. 2o.-In thel Lon
don Sunday Express Georges Car
pentier writes his impression OF
Jack Dempsey. as follows!
And I am glad to know you"
This was how Jack Dempsey
gteeted me when we met to- sirf,
articles to fisht for the charnpion-
ship OF the world. Which was very
different from what I had e&pected
and was led to believe. hadtpic-
fellow, with little personal charm,
stranger to softness and what
passes for common courtesies.
made the pleasant discovery that,
outside the ring at least, he is Just
a human, well<ordered young man,
softly spoken. extremely pleasant in
o quiet reserved way. and Alto
gether opposite to what I had pre-
pared myself for. At least on nifty
him, as represented by the film, In
vicious, terrible. merciless, punch
INK lulo HCApACochCSo the OlkkeSL
man have ever seen.
That was the only Dempsey I
knew until I met and spoke to him
but a few short days ago.
Ny opponents have been many
and of a widely different stamp.
Bombardier Wells. almost eliminate;
Billy Papke and Frank Klaus,
cruel. without inmagination, I5ust
a
man, who in his nature is white;
Gunboat Smith, conceited, reckless
of speech: Joe Beckett, good. honest.
strong; Levinsky with a jaw of iron
and immensely courageous - but
never a fighting man like Dempsey.
There may be the brute in him;
believe there Is, as there surely is
in all of US, but he Is not the mon
ster he has been represented to be
Rather would I say that he has been
misunderstood; for he has a mind. a
soul, and an intense liking fer life
that is not OF the ring.
Finds Jack Pleasant.
When we came to attach our sig
natures to the contract-the most
voluminous that has ever concerned
two pugilists lit Is made up of
eighteen crowded folios which 1,
personally. found the utmost DIM
Guilty In dissecting and understand
ing)-Dempsey had no questions to
ask. Like myself he had sickened
because of the long drawn-out ne
gotiations and the match was defii-
nitely made in a few minutes. Then
1t was that he gripped me by the
hand and took me on one side to
chat about things for removed from
the hammering and butchering bus
mess this fight Is expected to be.
We did not talk one word of fight;
we were just two ordinary busi-
ness men with many ideas in COM
mon. l do not think. by the way,
that we shall meet in the ring be-
fore the first week in July.
In APPEARANCE. Dempsey. who is
eighteen months younger than my
self, looks like an unusually big
and strong lad. j was surprised at
his boyishness. and he has the ways
of a boy. l should say that he has
no liking for fuss and ceremony,
and he is not given to boasting and
Dragging. There Is nothing of the
.waggerer about Dempsey, and am
certain that he has been misrepre-
sented by the exaggeration which
all too often, creeps into the boxing
columns of his country's newspa-
pers. Neither do i think he is
party to the humping of the Dig
drum which is thought necessary to
impress upon the world that ne IL
the greatest pugilist ever reared oy
his country.
There is much about Dempsey that
would cause you to pick him out OF a
crowd; he is so obviously powerful
and serious and fit-he Is not OF the
Broadway. So far he is unspoiled.
healthy, natural man, who. by ready
assimilation of what he has seen ana
heard and read, has more than aver
age Intelligence. He does not tax
great deal; when he does talk he re-
veals the practical. the common
sense mind. His belief in himself Is
supreme. but the success he has won
in the hardest school a man can pass
through justifies that belief. Any
man who can win first place in the
American school of fighting must be
conscious of his greatness. But
Dempsey is no advertiser of himself.
and when l left him we swore that
we were pals.
A Young Man In n Hurry.
. It would never be dreamed that
Dempsey was highly strung, that he
had nerves. But of this i am GER
tain. He does not beat himself into
Agetdiness as does Bombardier
Wells: neither is he 4 man who
fumes as does Beckett; but he has
that restlessness Of manner that de-
notes the highly-strung tempera-
ment. He Is a young man in a hur-
ry; he must rush and tear; that
which he embarks upon he must do
quickly, and it is this weakness for
MISUNDERSTANDING that has height
ened my confidence that when We
meet I shall take from him the
worlds title.
know precisely what I shall be
up against when 1 get into the ring
| with him.
Dempsey, If understand him right
| ly. viii gamble his all on his splendid
power. AS for mysef-well, 1 have
| feeling that will triumph. as /
did against your English champion,
| Beckett. 1t is not who WILL insist
| upon strength against strength, for /
am free to admit that in a test of
sheer brute power the odds would be
n Dempsey. I shall seek to make q
happy combination of boxing and
fighting. and IL I succeed in doing
this shall bring back to my coun-
try the championship Of the world.
and shall have realized the great
est ambition of my life.