My partner brought home the Roger Kahn Book," Jack Dempsey A Flame Of Pure Fire" ,there is a casual reference to Carpentier koing Joe Jeannette in sparring whilst he trained to fight Dempsey. Jeannette would then have been 41 going on 42. Can anyone verify this?
I know an old, bald, retired Jeanette was knocked down but Im not sure he was knocked out. It wouldnt surprise me to find Kahn skewing the story to make Carpentier look better than he was in order to in turn make Dempsey's win look better. That book is one of the most biased Ive ever read. Then again it wouldnt really surprise me to see the younger, more active Carpentier drop the older retired Jeanette.
The book was free but I must say it is dissapointing, lots of hyperbole and tales perpetuated.Jeannette was not really an active fighter in 1921 so I wouldnt read that much into him being kod. Just wondered if it was true.
June 6, 1921. Carpentier floored him but didnt knock him out. If he knocked him out it happened at another date but this is the one that got the most publicity so I would guess its this one Kahn is referring to. Prior to this it was noted that despite Jeanette being old and past his prime he had little difficulty landing on Carpentier's stomach or jaw "The glaring deficiencies in the European's defensive armor were apparent." Greb was present at this sparring session and predicted that Dempsey would win quickly and easily. "Dempsey is my choice for every cent Ive got." Apparently, Carpentier had been knocked down in sparring the week before by french journeyman Paul Journee two weeks later Journee was slaughtered by Charlie Weinert, being knocked down 10 times in the process.
Roger Kahn's "The Boys of Summer" is one of the best baseball books ever written. Never read anything he wrote on boxing, but like everyone ever he's a creature of his time -- sports writers created heroes in his day and that's probably what he was doing. "Boys of Summer" actually gives insight into that and the profession during his day.
If so, then it's hardly surprising that a 27-year-old Carpentier could employ a 41-year-old Jeanette as a sparring partner and manage to floor him. Impossible to really form an opinion without seeing the fight, but perhaps Carpentier was just quite a good match for Jeanette all along.
Read a lot of reports on the fight, seemed to boil down to a clash of styles and how one scored aggression v's skill.