Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-08
BY TEX RICKARD

WIZ. al Du1lNCG AthoA@ASAA' ~
his wrath in the ring.
In the old days managers made q
point of showing the two fighters to
have a grudge, to be bitter enemies.
Much was made of what they would DO
once they entered the ring. This was
supposed to make the public eager 10
see the spilling of blood in what they
were told would be grudge fight.
AS a matter of fact, there never were
any grudge fights, to my knowledge.
The boxers. as a rule, were business
men, merely soaking each other in the
nose as a means of livelihood. ] never
did believe that building up a grudge
notion ever helped the attendance. l
am still of that opinion.
According to my way OF thinking, the
public liked to regard the two boxers as
gentlemen and sportsmen. You all re-
member how Jim Corbetts popularity
was increased when they called nm
Gentleman Jim. 1 have never staged
what I tried to make grudge fight.
The sportsman idea undoubtedly pays
better, At least that has been my
experience.
CARPENTER was induced to attend
social parties on Long Island. HIS
natural French politeness. his Unborn
good manners, made him Immediately
popular-a sort of f1stic idol. His war
record helped lot. He was Immensely
popular.
ners. was somewhat in the shadow.
Jack Dempsey is very nice fellow ana
is fully capable of handling himself IN
any kind of a gathering. He has con-
siderable personal magnetism. But ne
was handicapped by being just a PLAIN
American fighter.
saw to it that these fighters were
acquainted and presumably regarded
each other as sportSmen. That I'M
doubtedly helped. I even went SO lar
as to have them play golf together.
Dempsey No Braggart.
If YOU will remember. Dempsey never
once assumed the attitude OF a DULY
and a braggart. From the start he
maintained that to lick Carpenter
would be no easy job.
ANY man who has won all the nights
he has" Dempsey said to me, must
have something. A fellow must nave
something even to knock out oup. /
know he can SOCK"
Dempsey's followers told what cinch
their champion had. He was immedi-
ately made fayorite in the bettlng. But
Dempsey never said any of those things.
At heart. I think he had real admlra-
ton for Carpenter.
He was not even Influenced by the
favoritism in the betting.
John L. Sullivan was big favorlte
over Corbett, wasn't hep" he reminded
his friends. willard was favorite
over me at Toledo, wasn't he? Je1ries
was a favorite, wasn't he?"
Jack Dempsey is nobody,s TOOL he
knows a lot. While his friends ran
around talking about his supposed
cinch he simply settled down to hard
work.
When Carpenter first came to Amer
lea there was some doubt as to his abil-
ity as fighter. To offset this we gave
him tryout-put him in against Bat
tuing Levinsxy. The Erenchman won In
four rounds, and thus became the log
ical runner-up. There was a question IN
the minds Of some experts about Car
pentieris weight being enough to Offset
DempSey's, but after that Levinsky at
fair nobody doubted the Frenchman
knew how to fight.
During the early stages OF the prepa-
ration tor the great battle all sorts of
ruYnors were spread around. There was
one that Descamps would refuse to let
4l1S iIId1l ~ O1l ukIlcoo Tic IAIAs was AIiaNS
larger. This was largely tommyrot.
The Frenchman co-operated with us in
every detail. He and Carpenter were
real sportsmen.
Training Methods Differ.
Then much was made OF the training
methods of the two fighters. Dempsey,
opening up quarters at Atlantic City,
charged so cents admission to see him
in action. There were plenty Of bugs
willing to pay this. Immediately,
though, there was an attempt to berate
Dempsey for what was called his mer-
cenary attitude. AS a matter of fact, I
don't think Dempsey or KearnS took
the matter seriously.
AT the same time Carpenter leased
an old country house at ManhaSSett,
and practically went into seclusion. He
permitted few people to see him train,
and to those no charge was made.
This was not intended as a reflection
on Dempsey. The Frenchman's man.
ager had discovered long before that
Carpenter trained better when not
bothered by lot of people standing
around and asking questions. He re-
garded the mental attitude of fighter
IN training as most important. Those
who criticized Carpenter for his seclu-
Siveness forgot that he was foreigner
unable to speak the language. The
things that were everyday affairs to
Dempsey were all strange to him. He
wanted to work with his own crowd in
his own way
] do not want. to dwell too long on
all these early details, but do think Il
worth while to give you a sample oil
some OF the odd stories that came Out
OF the Manha5sett camp-StorieS thai
made the public all the more eager tt
see the great fight.
1t was generally known that Descamp.
had been a hypnotiSt and a legerde.
main artist. 1t is but natural that &
legend, a fairy tale, should arise from
this.
This Startled New York.
One morning the fans Of Greater New
York found themselves reading a stor,
that SmaCked Of Trilby and Svengali
The little manager with the burning
eyes, we were told, always sat in a cor
ner and threw hypnotic spell over tn,
fighter. Under this hypnotic spell Car
pentier had won his early fights. In tn
coming fight Descamps would hypnotic
Carpenter just as Svengali had hyp
Noticed Trilby to make her grea
singer.
NOW, now is thaC Tor n0Kum?
Just the same, it was wonderful read
ing. AS the day of the great fight ap
preached the public was getting NOR
and more anxious to see the Frencl
idol. Carpenter was the favorite a
an idol. but Dempsey was still favorit
in the betting
My happiest moment was when tina
historic July 3 dawned clear. TIL
arena was completed. the tickets ha
been sold, the organization was as nea
perfect as we could make it, That wa
a big day in my life, one I shall nc
soon forget.
copyright, 1929, by North American News
paper Alliance.)
Next: The Dempsey Carpeuti.
! Fight