The New York herald., 1921-05-23

Il III MS 1l1llClSHl OIL DtLlpStJ dilt
Carpenter" published in Sundays
HERALD. two facts in reference TO the
French champion are emphasized by
Mr.. Charles F. Mathison. The one is
the small number OF his victims, the
other their inferior calibre as pugilists.
The writer begins with Carpenters VIC
tories over British heavyweights and
ends with his defeats at the hands OF
American middleweights. In order 10
explain what kind of a man the rival
OF Dempsey is now ] must do the re-
verse and follow chronological course.
For there are two completely differ
4 ent Carpentiers--the pre-war Carpen-
4 tier and the postwar Carpenter.
or the pre-war Carpenter. it can be
said he began his ring career at 13
years Of age, only II ope means by this
the officially recorded part of his prize
! fighting life. As matter of fact he
4 was but six years old when he started
fistic business, performing in the smoky
\ saloons OF Lens. his native town.
Descamps was at that time an obscure
teacher OF French boxing He used
chairs as informal boundaries of infor-
nal arenas he jmprovised in cafes
and his hat to gather his fee out OF the
generosity of the onlookers. His sport
| ing performance was intermingled with
faxed experiments OF hypnotic powers.
Young Carpenter was his infant boxing
star as we'll as his connecting link with
the next world
This Is the real beginning of Carpen-
/ tiers pugilistic career. TX could not be
worse. for 1t was the very thing that
prevented him from becoming a worlds
champion when a niddleweight. 1T
made him 0roio up dbnormdlly. French
boxing chiefly uses the feet as weapons.
Its theory at large is to avoid punches
by body retreat and attack through
blows delivered with the much stronger
lower limbs 1t develops the body ac-
cordingly--the lower limbs greatly the
upper very little. Pictures of Carpen-
tier when he was 13 show this was the
kind of physical development he had
obtained. While his chest and arms
were the chest and arms of flyweight,
his legs were the legs of a middleweight.
Moreover as keeping ones balance on
| one leg needs the bending forward of
the chest, this wrong position had ham,
pered the expansion of his thorax, which
was fiat on top, and the broadening of
his shoulders, which were very narrow.
The First Carpenter.
| Until he was Is Carpenters assets
were: Intelligence. thorough knowledge
of boxing. nervous power. quickness of
! feet fighting spirit and ring craftiness.
Against il stood his obvious weakness
| OF chest, shoulders and arms. Lack OF
strength deprived him Of a damaging
punch to use against the rugged men Of
the Papke or Klaus calibre. Such
physique accounts for his successes and
Fst Wa Pfy1,t nd IN, hfc
article by Mr.. Mathison will illustrate It,
The first great victory of Georges
Carpenter was over Jim Sullivan the
then middleweight British champion.
The weighing in took place at 10 A. M.
1t was not public. Before the sight It
was made known that both men were
within the English middleweight limit
| Fighter than the American scale Of
| weights by three pounds). From good
source, however. 1t was learned that
Carpenter was 20 kilos (154 English
pounds) much for his height of 3
feet inches. Bony. broad shouldered
and chested. very muscular. Sullivan
had the structure OF boxer. Carpen-
tier was slim by comparison. Quite
boyish in his appearance. he looked like
a schoolboy who would have oSerdevel-
oped his legs through too much rope
skipping But Sullivan was a boxer. not
n fighter. A few blows in the first
round tanned him. Something little
more powerful, early in the second
round, made him take the full count
The fistc glory of Carpenter was
launched on that occasion. And as Des-
camps already meant money the French
champion was fully kept busy with his
hands. Too busy. Having to make
good for many n thin COW year. the boy
was signed by his manager to fight too
many battles--too many for his slim
structure. Therefore far from inereas-
ing In weight. as he should have done.
gradually Georges wore himself down by
allowing his nerves to do the work OF
his absent muscle. He reached the low
est ebb when he suffered quick defeat
at the hands OF Dixie Kid A long.
much needed rest followed It.
Fights recalled by MIR. Mnthison in
clude the ones in which Willie Lewis,
Harry Lewis, Papke and Frank Klaus
acted The two FIRST named lost on
points to Carpenter. They were lighter
than the two last. who won (Harry
Lewis was but a welterweightJ and not
at all Of the same class.
Conceded Too Much Weight.
Billy Papke like his most dangerous
rival. Stanley Ketchel, was man stand
ing normally somewhere between the
middleweight and the light heavyweight
classes. Not exactly midway. He could
not Tight successfully the good men in
the division above for want OF n dozen
pounds or so, but he could 70 down and
wipe all boxers out Of the mlddleweight
landing. Against such battering ram
as the Illinois boy, whose strength was
in the right place. from waist UP. Car
pentier could but show his pluck In taxi
I ing punishment. Which he did When
he fought the American he was practi-
cally concedlng him weight, the weight
of his uselessly muscular iegs-auite
dead weight for him.
The same concession of weight by the
Frenchman marked his match against
Frank Klaus. 1t was even greater. For
the slow but exceedingly hard hitting
American was a freak OF nature. He
had the shoulders and upper part OF
chest of n heavyweight and the trunk
and legs OF a welterwoight. Both Papke
and Klaus used the same tactics against
Carpenter Being able TO stand his
blows easily. they went for him and COM
pellcd him to fight at close quarters.
Their sole aim was the weak body OF