THE WONDERFUL CARPENTIER.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 February 1920, Page 1

THE WONDERFUL CARPENTIER.

MR C. B. COCHRAN AND DEMPSEY. (By Berkeley, in Daily Mail)

LONDON, Dec. 12,

Now that the hurly-burly is over we are at liberty to look the basic facts of the Beckett and Carpentier boxing contest in the face.

If the judgment of those who fancied Beckett proved to be at fault, what must be said about the Englishman’s performance itself. How many men expected Beckett to go under in a little over a minute without, practically, having struck a blow? I would never hit. a man when he was down, but in the interests of truth and history it must be said that tho Euglishman behaved —one cannot say fought—like a novice. It was because his so-called form was so utterly mystifying that I wrote in my description of the affair that Carpentier might have had the hypnotic eye so absolutely dominating and irresistible was he. That remark has been the cause of much wordy warfare among followers of the sport and 1 have been blamed for making a quite unworthy suggestion, whereas all I meant was to convey, by a figure of speech, some idea of the commanding superiority of Carpentier. And if Beckett had really been hypnotised—l do not suggest here that he actually was—he could not have behaved more strangely than he did. He really asked to be beaten; he tried to do things that he had been warned against doing and be paid the penalty. Some people maintain that it was a triumph of will power over matter. That suggests some occult influence, and that I am not prepared to admit. One tiling is certain, however. It was a victory of mentality over brute strength. And who knows but that the slower-thinking brain of Beckett was influenced by what, Carpentier did to Wells on two occasions and to Smith once, and as a consequence became contused and stupid—much more so than might otherwise have been the case with him.

THE PERSONALITY OF CARPENTIER,

How good Carpentier really is only his light with Dempsey is likely to l)c able to show us. Meanwhile I take off my hat to him as one of the most remarkable men tuat ever entered the ring. He has none of the all too prevalent arrogance of bis profession; he lacks even the super-assurance of “Gentleman” James J. Corbett, and yet how terrible tie can be in the ring. He is entirely the product of a new age in pugilism, for tliere is nothing whatever of the old-time boxer about him. It remains to be seen Whether his type will survive or whether he is an accidental but none the less miraculous product. -Mr Cochran leaves for America tomorrow on a mission which, 1 am afraid, will not be an easy one. Holding Carpentier’s signature for a contest with Dempsey for the heavyweight championship of ,the world is not nearly all the battle of arrangement. I am sure we all hope that Mr Cochran will succeed in fixing up the Demp-sey-Carpentier match for this side. In any ease, I don’t think that Carpentier will consent to go to America. There he would be compelled to fight in a State where the natural conditions would be all against him. The climatic conditions on this side would not be nearly so prejudicial to Dempsey.