Georges Carpentier An Assessment.

It's been a long time since I saw Carpentier footage but I seem to remember him as a clever boxer with a big whallop. He also seemed kinda fragile to last long at the top of the heap. Probably a guy who might beat anybody in his time on the right day but who would be unable to hold his grip on the crown for very long.

 

Carpentier looks very bizarre on film, partly modern but also a bit primitive. He's unique. But I agree @mcvey I personally find him very overrated by some

 

I would definitely want to read multiple ringside reports of the Gunboat Smith fight, before reaching any definite conclusions.

 

I agree TKL was substantially smaller. As you say, he wasn't even naturally 157lbs, but rather a WW. To my eye the size disparity in the footage looked even bigger than the listed 4 inches and recorded 18lbs.

Whilst TKL had looked to the ref to break (or protest about Georges hitting and holding) multiple times during the build up the KO, the footage isn't conclusive whether he was at the exact point of the KO, or whether the right uppercut and right hook that immediately preceded the final blow, had left him stunned -

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Either way, a win over a prime TKL at WW is an ATG win (Jack Britton had a few of those!), but it certainly isn't for a LHW, imo. Decent, but not close to great.

 

I never got it, he's a key component of Dempsey lore and the Bert Sugars and Nat Fleischers couldn't get enough Dempsey, so his stock rose with the rising tide. Just trying to bolster a lacking resume by proxy.

 

Pretty good assessment...notable that 4-5 good years were taken up by the war.

 

I don’t think any man in the history of the ring could more eloquently carry the nickname “Orchid Man.”

Certainly not smelly ol’ Gunboat Smith nor nasty Ted Lewis.

 

Watch his fight with Dempsey. He had a really quick right hand, had a way of ducking then throwing it at warp speed.
Moved very well. Would be a decent LHW today.

 

I think he was world class, but not the most serious. max baer with a different style if you will.

he def looks underwhelming, but the available film is a bad representation.

the siki fight may as well be a comedy.

 

I agree.

It's also clear that TKL looked to the ref multiple times.

I'm just not certain he was doing so at the time of the KO.

 

It was a huge international fight, maybe the first world wide fight as news of the fight was telegraphed to Europe instantaneously. Carpentier was a genuine WWI hero, an aviator that did some insane shooting on the enemy. He was personable and handsome as well. Dempsey was called a slacker by a lot of people so there was a sizable number of Americans who cheered for the Frenchman. They both made a ton of money on the bout and after all it's called prize fighting.