Omaha daily bee., 1920-12-17
Here's What Carpenter Thinks Of Champion Dempsey
World utah Mau Not the Tear
ing Annhaing the Ring He Has Been Pictured
Sees Wherein He Defeat Opponent
BY GEORGES CARPENTER.
Light Heavyweight Champion o
The World

| service ana LONDON sunday
| Expressly
London, Dec. l6.-"And | am glad
20 know you.'
This was how Jacl; Dempsey
greeted me when we met to sign
articles to fight for the championship
OF the world. Which was very diff
| ferent from what ! had expected and
was led to believe. | had pictured
Dempsey as big, roaring fellow,
with little personal charm, intoler-
ant rather, not nice, stranger to
softness and what passes for COM
mon courtcsics. l made the pleas
ant discovery that, outside the ring
at least, he, is just human, we'll
ordered young man, softly spoken,
extremely pleasant in quiet, re-
served way, and altogether opposite
to what | had prepared myself for.
At least on SO occasions. when alone
had seen him., as represented by
the film in his fight with Willard,
fierce, vicious, terrible, mercilessly
punching into helplessness the big
gest,I heaviest man | have ever seen:
That was the only Dempsey |
knew until I met and spoke TO- him
but a few short days ago.
Nv opponents have been many
and of a widely different stamp.
Bombardier Wells. almost cffen'-
nate; Billy Papkc and Frank Klaus.
cruel without Imagination. just
fighting men; jeanette, a black man,
who in his nature is white: Gunboat
smith, conceited, reckless Of speech;
Toe Beckett. good, honest, strong;
Levinsky, With jaw OF iron and
immensely courageous-but never
fighting man like Dempsey. lnerc
may be the brute in him; ! believe
there is. as there surely is in all OF
US: but he is not the monster he has
been represented to be: Rather
world I saw that he has been mis-
understood; for he has inino; -, a
soul and an intense liking Tor lltc
that is not of the ring.
When we came to attach our sie.
natures to the contract-the mos,
voium;nous that has ever yconcerned
two pugilists lit is made up OF 10
crowded folios which |, personally
found the utmost difficulty in dis
secting and understanding-Demp-
sew had no questions TO ask. LIKE
myself he had sickened because OF
the long drawn-out negotiations
and the match was definitely MADE
- few minutes. Then it was that
he pripped me heartily BY the hand
and took me on one side to chat
about things far removed from tne
hammering and butchering business
this fight is expected to be. We did
not talk one word of fight; we were
lust two ordinary business men with
many ideas in common. ! 40 no!
think, by the way. that she shall meet
in the ring before the first week
of next July.
Dempsey Looks Boyish.
In appearance Dempsey, who IS
IS months younger than myself;
looks like an unusually big ana
strong lad. I was surprised at ms
boyishness, and he has the ways, OF
! bow. | should say that he has
no liking for fuss and ceremony;
and he is not given to boasting ana
Dragging. There is nothing OF the
swaggerer about Dempsey. and am
certain that he has been misrepre-
lsented by the exaggeration, which,
all too often, creeps into the box
ing columns of his country's news
papers. Neither do | think he IS
a party TO the humping of the big
drum which is thought necessary to
impress upon the world that he is
the greatest pugilist ever reared by
his country.
No Self-Advertiser.
This is what | would call my
pen picture of him: Complexion,
dark; face, strong and rugged, with,
out being brutal; general physical
makeup .as nearly perfect as pos
sible.' /He carries himself easily
there is much spring in his walk.
His face, which although not finely
chiselsd, is not like that OF Beckett.
as you would perhaps imagine 1t TO
be from the published photographs
Of him. 1t advertises tenseness and
determination, yet when he allows
a smile to play about it it is almost
kind, sympathetic face. Certainly
it is an arresting and engaging face.
There is much about Dempsey
that would catise you to pick hinl
out of a crowd; he is so obviously
powerful and serious and fit-he IS
not Of the Broadway. SO far he IS
unspoiled, a healthy. natural man,
who, by ready assimilation OF what
he has seen and heard and read, has
more than average intelligence. He
docs not talk great deal; when ne
does talk he reveals the practical
the commonscnsc. mind. His belief
in himself is suprems. but the sue
cess he has won in the hardest
school a man can pass through JUS
titles that belief. Any man who can
win first place in the American
school of fighting must be conscious
of his greatness, and he must be a
believer in himself. But Dempseyls
NO advertiser of himself. and when
left him he sworc that we were
palo.
A Young Man in Hurry.
II would never be dreamed. that
Dempsey was highly strung, that
he had nerves. But of this am
certain. He does not beat himself
into fidgetiness as does Bombardier
Wells; neither is he a man who
fumbles as does Beckett; but he has
that restlessness Of manner that de-
notes the highly-strung tempera-
ment. He 10 a younger man in a |
hurry; he must rush and tear: that
which he embarks upon he must do
quickly, and it is this weakness for
helter- -skeltering that has heightened
my confidence that when we meet
shall take from him the worlds
title.
l would explain. One of the first
things he yentured upon after max