Joe Jeannette vs. Georges Carpentier

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I've got an about 60 year old biography of Carpentier (that I bought at a dusty old antique shop in Paris France and there's a lot in there about it from what I remember there was a mini riot because the decision was so bad - I'm at work at the minute so will look later and see if I can put a bit more meat on the bones for you later but yeah sounded like Carp should've won by a wide margin and when he didn't the crowd went nuts

 

Boxerc hints its controversial but misguidedly so.

Atleast in my opinion.

From what I can gather Jeannette won a clear decision and the crowd were dismayed by the victory as they were big on carpentier. I haven't read any reports hinting at an unjust victor.

 

I have the next dayfight report from "Boxing", top UK mag and the forerunner of "boxing News". They were in no doubt that the Frenchman should have got the decision. Reading the round by round detail I got the impression that it was a quality v quantity, workrate v skill type of fight that often leads to very different views.
I think this is a very important fight in accessing the legacy of both fighters and also in the broader rating of the era vis a vis, blacks/whites, America/Europe, Heavy/ Light-Heavies, very much an ignored contest so this is a pretty useful thread.

 

That's interesting. I'm not saying I have researched thoroughly but I've not seen anything other than boxrec contest the legitimacy of the result.

 

My French is pretty basic but I tried to get French next day reports from ringside but failed the last time I tried. One of the difficulties with this fight is that as Carpentier was the home boy and the darling of Paris,it has been assumed that if the decision went against him, then assuredly he must have been comprehensively beaten but from what I've researched this does not appear to be the case.

 

"Jeannette weighed in at thirteen stone three, [185lbs], and as usual I was very much lighter; eleven stone eleven ,[165lbs]". Once the fight started all my optimism was confirmed. I took command of the fight from the start, and I kept it throughout the whole of the fifteen- round contest , which was a very testing one.
All the time I had the confident feeling that I was doing what I had set out to do, though I was very tired indeed at the end of the fightand something very unusual!- blleeding freely from a last minute blow on the nose the nose.
And then , to my intense surprise-and not only mine the referee,a German named Frantz-Reichel-awarded the fight to Joe Jeannette who, I think ,must have been every bit as surprised as I was.
The audience was momentarily flabbergasted, but then an indescibable tumult followed in which the fittings and fixtures of Luna Park took a great deal of punishment."


The next day the Auto had a three column banner headline;
A SCANDALOUS DECISION!
"One of the finest boxing contests we have seen in Paris for many a long day ended last night in an incredible, and bewildering decision on the part of the referee,Georges Carpentier,in the pink of condition,and in wonderful form,faster, more accurate,and more scientific than ever, dominated the fight- dominated it by a long margin.
In the very first round he sent his opponent to the canvas with an irresistible right hook,and in the following twelve rounds he hit Jeannette again and again,with lightning lefts, forcing him to resort to more than one irregularity, such as holding with one hand and hitting with the other...
Three times during the fight the referee had to warn Jeannettea nd threaten him with disqualification,and on one occasion he even warned him publicly.
But when the last round had been fought , the only one that may perhaps have gone to the mulatto, because Carpentier,relying confidently on his big lead on points,adopted defensive tactics-- this same referee went over to Jeannette, and lifted his arm to the audience as the victor!"

"We can only repeat that it was a scandalous verdict, a verdict as scadalous as it was incomprehensible.
It was loudly booed by a large crowd,including even a good many people who had backed Jeannette, but were sportsmen enough to recognize the French champion had beaten their man in masterly fashion and that there was really no doubt about the true result.
Theirs was a view which is shared by Tristan Bernard,Leon See,Mr Bettinson of the NSC of London, and the great majority of our sporting colleagues." Carpentier, by himself.
Interesting that it says Carpentier floored Jeanette in round one.
And Carpentier claims a 20lbs weight differential.

 

NY TIMES

"the american who had a trifle more weight than his opponent, landed heavier blows a number of times, his blows staggering the frenchman, and as it appeared at the end of the fight that Jeannette had been the more aggressive, the referee decided the American was the victor"

 

Not been the slightest bit facetious but would you read L'Equipe to get a view on Johnson-Jeffries?
The NY report quite probably came from the Jeannette camp.

 

I'm just posting a report is all.

If carp did truly deserve the victory it kinda shines favourably on jacks early title reign for me. It would be the second time he knocked out the top white contender who was coming off a winning performance over the top coloured contender.

 

Dont follow.....Dempsey ?
The Jeannette fight was in 1914. However if Smith and Fulton were beating Sam and add in this fight them maybe the whites weren't as far behind as we now usually place them.

 

This carp victory is usually swept under the carpet as a hype job and not really heralded.

Although in theory he could have been on a winning streak involving victories over the coloured champ, the whit champ and the lhw champ.

Could be the case that the hype of the time was justified.