BOXING.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1920, Page 10 (Supplement)

BOXING.

CARPENTIER IN AMERICA. TELLS THE STORY HIMSELF WILL TIGHT DEMPSEY NEXT JULY. In an article written at Paris last July for a London paper, Georges Carpentier told a very interesting story of his experiences in America and Impressions formed by hlra. He said: "Were it not that I am definitely pledged to fight for tl'e championship of the world, I would have done with the ring. These days, and for many days to come, I would dream and writs and prattle, and laugh and cry, of the strange, .whirling, wondrous country from which I have but just returned. "I would first aet on parade the little rough house of Francois Descamps at Len3, wherein I learned to fight; I would poke fun at the 'professor's' gymnasium; my Sunday! when I, conjurer, clairvoyant, wrestler, boxer, contortionist, performed at the country cafss as would .1 common busker. I Would live all over again; I would believe that I a«n about to meet the roan-jockay, Salmon, at liaisons Lafltte, as I did when In my teens, and on I would go until I was paid thousands ot pbcuuVi in one night. And then the war—first, a chaffeur, then a flying maa, high up over the Vosge3 Mountains, to drop like a atone, and, because of some miracle, scramble for my machine whole. I would chuckle over my triumph against Beckett, and now, wren for the second time In my short life I have more than a million francs, I would firßt doubt, and then confess that the gods have indeed been kind to me.

? WEALTH. "As I write, my pen would run riot, for that which ia gloriously true I can scarcely believe—-I have abundant wealth; 1 a«n young, happy, and in days that are soon to 1 come I am to engage in a contest for the 1 biggest purae ever offered in the hlßtory of ' pugilism. After I have fought Dempsey I ' shall he richer by £.10,000. It Is incredible, ■ and yet it la true. And so In another year 1 I shall have a fortune of more than £IOO,OOO. 1 "But It is of my visit to America, that I ■ must tell. No words of mine can express ' adequately my appreciation of the welcome - I received, and no one could have possibly profited more than I have done by a visit to ' that great -country. Until I set out for the States I had travelled but little; except France and' the French, only England and the English did I know. To roam abroad ; made but little appeal to me, but now the ' wonders, the mysteries of the world having 1 been shown to mc, I would go everywhere. "Maeterlinck, Tristan Bernard, many men 1 of letters of my country have sought to ' teach and tell me of things far away from ! boxing, and as a professional fighter I think I may claim to have read much, even ex- ' tensirely. But my American trip tas opened ' my eyes to what Is delightfully new and ■ fresh; it has helped me to a better utider--1 standing of humanity; It taught rtie that In 1 the matter of real knowledge I was but a 1 child. America has made me rich in money, but she has made me wealthier In mind ■ also; she has told me of my littleness; she 1 has helped me to know the world. I "MAN-EATER." "It is said of the French that they are incorrlgably demonstrative; In sheer expression of her feelings Franco can never be • more demonstrative than England; she will never be so uncompromising as America. 1 "When I landed in . New York, men who write on boxing remarked on my pale face, my sllmness. my boyishness; that in a physical test I was fitted to tako the ring against Dempsey they were shy to believe. For this Dempsey, I was forever being told, was a 'maa-eater'. Much to my regret, I had to leave America without meeting him, but I am quite prepared to believe that he is a mighty fellow and a cruel fighter. 1 have studied his face; I have sought to know him by the statements attributed to him, and that he stands for hatdneas 1 am certain; and yet. though he will enjoy an immense advantage in reach when we get into the ring, though he may be a human cyclone, I await a fight with him without fear or trepidation. I will never hare. It that brute strength is everything. Boxing is a science, and not of the butcher's shop. "It Is possible that Dempsey will hammer me into defeat as he did tte mountainous Willard, but it is possible that, as with Beckett, I shall knock him Out. This imuch I will say—if I am beaten, it will be when I am stretched out on the floor of the ring with no strength left in me. I shall fight until I drop. "Before I left America it was suggested that I was trying to dodge fighting. In CHef.go espeolally the fans would have it that I was mwe of a dancer than a fighter. I can but say that if I had been a free agent, and had Dempsey not been involved In what at one period appeared lntermUiable legal proceedings, I would have entered into a contract to fight him within a month after my arrival in New York. "To try for tho world's title Is the one ambition of my life. I sought a fight with Dempsey tte very morning after imy victory over Beckett. I have never put any obstacle In the way of a meetjng, and of this Demiisey's manager, Jack Kearns, was osßtired shortly before I left for home. Dempsey takes the point of view, and a Very proper one, I am bound to say, that he, being champion, has the right to say where he will defend the title. Through itearns te says that he will not fight outside his own country, and If he adheres to that decision, then I will go- to America to meet him. ItIs immaterial whero and when I do battle with him. I cm determined to fight Hra, and then retire. 5000 DOLLARS FOR A SPAR. "What to hie was one of the most interestins happenings of my American tour occurred at a banquet attended by 2000 sportsmen, given In my honor shortly after ray arrival in New York, where, by the way, I had t tremendous welcome" from the 'Dough- , boys'.. I was made One of them, birring the- dinner it was suggested that I should havo a spar with Major Anthony Drevel Blddel. " 'With pleasure,' I said. So, doffing imy dress Jacket, I put on tie gloves and boxed with the gallant major. It was rare fun, 'and, en paßsant, I would say that Francois Descamps, the strange little man who has done bo mucb to help me to become rich, fixed my fee at 5000 dollars. "Everywhere I went I was sought by worldfamous pugilists—the most interesting of all being Jim Corbett, with whom I spent a delightful afternoon a few miles outside New i York. A rare story-teller, a much-travelled ; man, at fifty years or so a magnificent physical spociaien, he told me of his long and memorable life in the ring, and he was good enough to say that although Dempsey was ' very big and strong, I tad every reason to ' believe that my science would prevail. "Jos Jeanette, who beat me at Lunar Park, ] Paris, in the spring of 1914, also looked me up. Joe has lost his jet-black curls; age , is cutting Us way into this superb man of bronze,, but he. Is well circumstanced. I shall always remember him as ono of the greatest ! men of color who ever fought in the ring. ' I was delighted to allow him to claim me as ' hia boy." \