Georges Carpentier's Punching Power
Tommy Loughran:
My manager always claimed the greatest fight I ever fought was with Carpentier. It was at the stadium in Philadelphia, where Tunney and Dempsey fought. It was a terrific turnout for it. In the fight, Carpentier was fast, he could punch with both hands, he was a knockout puncher, had a terrific left hook. He had good footwork, he had speed, and he knew every angle of the ring. He knew how to feint. He knew how to duck punches, he knew how to block them, he knew how to use good footwork. He was well trained, he was well conditioned, but at the time I boxed him I would say he must have been around thirty-four or thirty-five. I mean, he was over the hill. In the meantime, he was still a dangerous puncher. He hit me with a left hook in the third round of the fight, caught me on the cheekbone. If he’d hit me on the chin I’d have out for a week. The side of my face came out like that. But then what I didn’t do to him, jeez. In the seventh round I dropped him right on his face. He was still trying to get that left across and I was suckering him into it. But he got up, and when he got up my hand was done for. That’s why I had respect for him, because of his age. But his knowledge, and his courage, and his capabilities were so extraordinary at that time. But he told me, “Tommy, that was the greatest fight I ever fought. That was my swan song. I knew it was time to quit when I couldn’t win with that kind of fight."
It was the greatest fight I ever fought. I think he was one of the greatest of all, Carpentier. . . .
Gunboat Smith:
Then I went to Europe, in 1914. That was on the 16th of July. I wasn’t in tip- top shape when I fought Carpentier. I left all my fight out in San Francisco and Boston. In 1914 I begin to slip. After I fought Langford and Willard, I begin to slip. I lost that certain something. I wasn’t right. I lost on a foul to Georges Carpentier. There was a good fighter, too, and a good hitter. He was a fellow that you didn’t know if he was standing on his head or on his feet. In the first round, he hit me a terrific punch, I didn’t go right down, but I kind of sunk. I took the count of eight and I got up. I stalled around for a couple of rounds, just feeling him out. I took me about two or three rounds to get over it. . .
both from Peter Heller’s IN THIS CORNER