How great was Carpentier really?

88-15-6 57KOs

French welterweight champion
French heavyweight champion

European welterweight champion
European middleweight champion
European light heavyweight champion
European heavyweight champion

2-time World middleweight title challenger
World light heavyweight champion
World heavyweight title challenger

 

2nd best French boxer ever ??

Marcel Cerdan is my number 1.....We can consider Marcel Thil greater than Carpentier though.....personally I think I would actually.....

 

I would rank Spider Pladner over Carpentier as well

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If you view Cerdan as being Algerian, then it comes down to Thil and Carpentier. And it's a classic case of someone dominating a weight class for an extended time, versus someone collecting good scalps in multiple weight classes

Can see a case made for either fighter being number one, really.

 

Really ? You´re giving me one more reason to rate Panama Al Brown high !:hey

Yeah....depends of the criteria....
Eugene Criqui isn´t a name to consider as well, perhaps ??

 

Carp has a few good scalps(Levinsky, Smith). But usually when he fought the better fighters from MW to HW he lost and lost BADLY.

 

Panama Al was a freak. He Thomas Hearns'd Pladner. Spider should have left him alone. Outside of Brown he could beat just about anyone. His record sparkles over many top names. His list of scalps outstrips Carpentier's, imo. Compare their records and tell me what you think.

 

Very consistent, and his opposition seems incredible, Al Brown, Young Perez, Izzy Schwartz, Newsboy Brown, Frankie Genaro, Pete Sanstol...

KO1 Genaro !! Seems like a great feat....

 

Yup, and with a body shot!

Don't forget that he also beat Wee Willie Davies, who was an all-time great flyweight. He was Genaro's master and considered for years to be the "uncrowned king" of the flyweights. Only Midget Wolgast can be truly said to have had Wee Willie's number.

 

The first round KO over Genaro was a low blow that wasnt allowed by the ref.

 

He was always a paper champion though wasn't he. That's the issue.

Never really the best in any division. Quite often a top 5 contender though.

Lot of fixed bouts occured as well.

 

Then why is the ref counting him out?

http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/BHC_RTV/1929/03/02/BGT407140636/?s=*

 

Based on the fact that Klaus established lineage by beating him, I think that we have to regard him as having been a top 3 fighter in the middleweight division at some point, even if he was not one of the three best of the era.

And that is an important point when considering his credentials across the weight classes. The fact that he got within spitting distance of the top, of a weigh class lower than the one where he made his name.

Also, I think you will agree that it was a pretty darn murderous midleweight division.