New Britain herald., 1921-06-23
MY FIGHTING LIFE. GEORGES CARPENTER
Ring History in Europe As Center.d About ChiIenger of Dempsey.

| had built. It was a most enjoyable | training period for me.
 ', I met Smith on July 19, 1919, in the | Cirque de Paris. I beat him in eight
 rounds, but because it had been pre- | dicted that I would win in short or der and decisively, the result not only disappointed thousands of my follow | CTS, but left a feeling in me that | something was wanting in my per | formance. was not my old confi- dent self in the ring. That I know.
 l was unable to judge my punches | Iaccurately, and Smith often made me | miss by foolish margins. He boxed better that night than any English heavyweight I ever had met before, but that was small consolation to me.
 Before meeting Smith l had signed to meet Joe Beckett for the Euro pean championship, which I held, provided Smith did not beat me, so it was predicted rather freely that,
 because I had been unable to beat
 Smith more quickly, l surely would
 lose to Beckett.
 I had a great deal of trouble in
 reaching Smith with knockout
 punch. When I did land it I almost
 botched the job by hitting him where
 the effect would be less noticea ble. just did reach the point of his chin. This was exasperating to me, for nev- CT before did I experience any diff culty in striking where I wanted to,
 provided the proper opening was left for me.
 It has been charged that I played with Smith as long as it was safe in order to throw Beckett off his guard and give the impression in England that I would not be hard to beat. This is not true. I tried my very best to beat Smith quickly, but the old skill was not present with me when I did try to beat Smith. If it was puzzling to the crowd which | looked on and to the world which | was following closely the fight, inn | agine what must have been my own | feelings and those of Descamps.
 Of course, even at that time, I was | olarntng to meet Jack Dempsey, who | had just won the worlds champion | ship in this country. Therefore, I 1 was filled with more than ordinary | fear of what might happen when I l should meet Beckett. I didn't fear Bcc' ett in the sense that I believed | he might beat me. Merely was I ] fearful lest I should not be able to | defeat him decisively enough to make |
  in my career.
 The Beckett bout had been ar | ranged for September, but the day | before I met Smith orders were sent | me to report back to the training | camp at Joinville. so Descamps | asked and obtained a postponement I of the bout. This gave me a breath ing spell to think things over thor oughly and plan a new campaign of training which 1 hoped would put | me in better condition. It was sug- gested at this time that I asked the | postponement because I feared Beck ett but this. of course, is not true. I have already shown how much l feared Beckett.
 did not like this suggestion. l never have refused to fight at any time, and I told Descamps that, rather than be charged thus, l would meet Beckett in September. Des- camps told me he would leave me if insisted. He pointed out that Beckett was well-trained and that I was running the risk of a crushing defeat if I persisted in the scheme. And finally I succumbed and the date was changed to October.