CHAMPION OF EUROPE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2678, 11 August 1913, Page 8

CHAMPION OF EUROPE.

GEORGES CARPENTIER. (By W. F. Corbet*. * Through the agency of one man only Franco has indeed ribbed it into. England. George* Carpentier, previous no his success at Ghent, Brussels, had defeated Young Josephs when ho was middleweight champion of his country; Jim Sullivan, when ho held English middleweight supremacy; and Bandsman Rioa, recognised as the Old Country's light heavyweight premier. Carpentier celebrated his nineteenth birthday in January last, and though round about 6ft,, he is 3in. or 4ui. shorter than Wells, who will be 25 years old next August. Tho Frenchman knocked out Jura Sulllivan and Bandsman Rice each in two rounds. It was confidently predicted by Loudon writeis that if Wells did go under the job ol placing Jiim in that position must occupy much more than two rounds, but it did not apparently. France will go wiki over Carpentier s success. Ho was his country s idol, and a youth who made friends everywhere. , . , . The title of champion heavyweight of Europe was involved. Oar pen tier lost his previous two tights with Frank Klaus and Billy * , The one in tho nineteenth ami the other in tho seventeenth round, owing. it was stated, to weakness caused through getting down below his natural weight. The Carpentier-Welle affair was um viewed at all favorably by Euglis l sporting people. They J™ 0 "' C tier to bo a dangerous Tighter. Wells had nothing to gain beyond whatever money thoro might have boon m the match, and a good deal to lose. II ho won ho could have gathered little m reputation. People would have asked what else should have been expected. Defeat meant a big slump in Ins already much-fallen stock. _

An interesting “Garpen tier st.ory appeared in London Boxing on April 20th from the pen of F. H. Imen.s, “The Wells-Onrpontier fight takes mo back.” Mr Lncas writes. to a little sleepy town about 12 mules from the French capital, wherein, six _>oais ago, there came a pale, girlish (‘hud to contest a twenty 3-nvinivto round contest with 4oz. mitts. Unknown until then, Carpentiior—for it was no ether barely 13 years of ago when he timidly stepped into the ring. His opponent. Salmon, was at the time undoubtedly the best. 45 kilos, boxer in Franco, and very o.t. at that. Built like a bulldog, and not unlike one in character, it was generally anticipated that ho would make about two mouthfuls of tin offeniiniate visitor, and betting ruled in hia favor. ~ “The combat between those two diminntivo yonng boxers was almot grotesque, for whereas one was a bmiueckod, broad - .shouldered. stumpy bandy-legged little terror to look upon, the other —namely, Car pen tier— bore all the symmetry of an immature Apollo. Without being otherwise ungainly to look upon, Salmon’s extra yeans —for he was IS —and formidable appearance lint accentuated the youth and grace of Iris opponent. No wonder that Georges’ bow within the pn mu nets of that now doubly historical ring was greeted with something akin to pity. “X shall never forget the wonder that crept over the faces of all present (mint included) a-s Oarpontier sent Salmon down in the third round from as pretty an upper-ent as 1 have over seen. His baxiifig up to that moment had wen marvellous —straight lefts, footwork and coolness electrifying even bus terrible opponent Salmon. Up at throe, the latter became a perfect fury, and all hearts stood still. I nperturbed, tin child-boxer weathered the storm with almost uncanny insouciance, and at tlm thirteenth round was actually ahead on points and Then came the end, for a quite unintentional foul by Salmon cut short what had been, perhaps. ono of the finest over seen before or since in Franco. “The two, of course, met in a return match, but this time betting was fast and furious, for Carpentier’s extraordinary skill had stamped him as an equal-chance proposition. ‘‘Roth in his first and second slams with Salmon, Oarpontier gave every sign of future greatness. These st.nictv me as so remarkable in one so young that I then, and over since, wrote the lad up as a phenomenon. Although punched clean out of the ring at least a dozen times in the eighteenth round of hio return match with Salmon, this lion-hearted young stoic that had Carpentier for name was the most bitterly disappointed mortal present when Descamp.4 threw in the sponge. He raved, stamped, kicked, and fought his manager with the fury of a wounded tiger as the latter lifted ilk charge in his arms to carry him out of the ring. “Urn not beaten!” fumed this precocious fighter, almost hissing the word's, while with his snake-like contortions he tried to free himself from Dosoamps 1 tender yet forcible grip.”