THE RING

Grey River Argus, 22 November 1920, Page 4

THE RING

LEWIS AGAIN BEATS BASHA-I. (Roe. November 20, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, November 20. In tlicir return noxing match, Kid Lewis defeated Johnny Ba-sham in the nineteenth round. CARPENTIER'S LTFE STORY. "MY study of -Dempsey began the day after my fight with Beckett. Tt wilS rot be finished until one of u s has won." It is with these words that Georges Carpontier, the lieavy-weignt champion of Europe, finishe 9 the story of hi s life in his book "My FIGHTING LTFE." He tells how he rose from being tho son of a* miner employed im one of the collieries at Lens to be one of the foremost pugilists of the day. He records in a most interesting manner how he rose step by step up the ladder of fame from the time whem he met M. D^gcamps, then a tea-cher of "I' a boxe Anglai s e," till the great night on December 4. 1919, when he stood victorious over the body of Joe Beckett, the heavy-weight champion of Great Britain, having won the greatest fight of his career in 74 seconds. He tells how one night be wont to see Descamps, whom he calls a lone misunderstood man, and asked! him td teach him how to box. Descamps was amused at fir s t but a length agreed to spar a couple of rounds with Georges. The sequel came a few days later, when Descamps went and interviewee! Garpentier's parents, and s.aid that he would take the little fellow as his pupil. From that day the two wore inseparable. They travelled over tho country, giving most of their exhibitions in country cafes. Descamps also ga;ve displtys of "hypnotism," and it was, no doubt due to that that elu> many stories of Descamps hypnotising Carpentier's opponents have arisen. • The young Frenchman's first hi " match in public was with a.n Englishman named Salmon. Salmon was ;? full-grown man, whilst his opponent was little more than a boy. The fight ended in the 13th round when the Englishman was disqualified for hitting low. Carpentier's accounts of his fight with Wells make interestin greading Writing on the first contest— that at Ghent in 1913— he says Wells had him beaten inthe first round, but the big Bombardier failed to finish, him off as he should have done, and although odds of two t oone were laid on the Englishman he was nervous because the Frenchman hadma-naged to fight on when it seemed he must have lost, it was at a signal from Descamps in the fourth round that Carpentier uppercut Wells aid finished off the tight. Wells had his elbows in a tangle m an effort to guard his body when the pair met foi- a second time, and the Frenchman's task of beating him was an easy one, One of the most interesting portions of the book is Carpentier's .account of "iis fight with Joe Beckett. He says hat directly he enteredthe ring he could see that the Southhwmption man was ill at ease, and that ho at once kiew that he would win, and win quickly. "A straight left, a right, then a left, then it was all over," he writes; and he says that as Beckett fell ' he said to himself, "Ife he can get up again, he is the most wonderful man alive,' ? and adds that he never hit .anyone so hard and so surely in the right place as he did Joe Beckett. Now, of course, he is after Dempsey, and the highest honours. He is not troubled by the tales of the American's ferocity, and sums up the position, as follows: — "Wherever the fight takes place it will be a mighty one. I look tit net as a. personal matter. await it nsa Frenchman ;who would always fight for his country. I will fight for France, and if I go down, I will go down with my jaws set tight, with all my fighting blood boiling and surging, and in, the full ' consciousness that I met a better man." Still they say it is not Dempsey who has stood off and delayed a meeting. They say Georges, is the party who dtllies.