Georges Carpentier

Georges Carpentier (12 January 1894 – 28 October 1975) was a French boxer, actor and World War I pilot.

A precocious pugilist, Carpentier fought in numerous categories.

He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasting from 1908 to 1926.

A French professional champion on several occasions, he became the European heavyweight champion before the First World War.

A sergeant aviator during the Great War, he was wounded before returning to civilian life.

He then discovered rugby union, playing as a winger.

After making his first professional bout at age 14, he was welterweight champion of France and of Europe in 1911, middleweight champion of Europe in 1912, and light heavyweight champion of Europe in 1913.

On 1 June 1913, he beat "Bombardier" Billy Wells in Ghent, Belgium to become heavyweight champion of Europe.

He defended his title in December against Wells, in January 1914 against Pat O'Keeffe and in London on 16 July he beat Ed "Gunboat" Smith to add the "White Heavyweight Champion of the World" to his European title.

The white heavyweight title bout sported a purse worth £9,000 (equivalent to approximately £0 today).

Carpentier was also a referee during the early stages of his career, supervising a number of fights including the world title bout between Jack Johnson and Frank Moran in June 1914.

Carpentier was a French Air Force aviator during World War I and was awarded two of the highest French military honors, the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Militaire.

This served to heighten his already exceptional popularity, not only in France but also in the United Kingdom and the United States.

On his return to the ring in 1919, "le grand Georges" ("the great Georges" in English) he was celebrated as a symbol of a sporting powerhouse France, via performances in Great Britain and the United States of America.

Carpentier defended his title twice again in 1919 before dropping down a weight class to challenge Battling Levinsky for the light heavyweight championship of the world.

His knockout victory over Battling Levinsky on 12 October 1920 in Jersey City in the United States earned him the title of world champion.

A defeat by Jack Dempsey the following year nevertheless strengthened his legend and brought him worldwide fame.

This defeat marked the decline of his career, punctuated by the controversial loss of his titles to Battling Siki.

Nicknamed the "Orchid Man", he stood 5 ft and his fighting weight ranged from 147 to 175 lb.

Later notable performances included a defeat by Gene Tunney.

The fight took place on 12 October 1920, in Jersey City and Levinsky was knocked out in the fourth.

He is the author of a boxing novel, Brothers of the Brown Owl: A Story of the Boxing Ring published c. 1920 by Cassell and Company (being a volume in the uniform Cassell's Empire Library).

He also appeared in half a dozen motion pictures, starring in both silent films and talkies.

He made three films in Hollywood, US, one for director J. Stuart Blackton in England and two in his native France.

Carpentier's attempt at the heavyweight Championship of the world came on 2 July 1921, again in Jersey City, when he faced Jack Dempsey in front of boxing's first million dollar gate (approximately $0 today).

Carpentier was badly beaten around before suffering a knockout in the second minute of the fourth round and never fought again for that title.

From the time they boxed together in 1921, Carpentier remained close friends with Jack Dempsey.

He lost his world light heavyweight title and his European heavyweight and light heavyweight titles the following year, on 24 September 1922, in a controversial bout with Senegalese fighter Battling Siki.

His last truly noteworthy fight was on 24 July 1924, with Gene Tunney at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, New York City.

Carpentier lost the bout by TKO after fifteen rounds.

Carpentier ended his career in 1926, but remained a leading figure in French boxing.

He retired from the ring after a final exhibition bout in 1927.

Following his retirement from boxing, Carpentier spent a number of years as a vaudeville song-and-dance man, mostly in the UK and the US.

His last screen appearance was in 1934.

Soon after, he became proprietor of an upmarket bar, Chez Georges Carpentier, in a chic Paris neighbourhood.

In several different locations, this is the profession he would exercise until shortly before his death.

Appointed ambassador for French sport abroad after the Second World War, in which he took part in the French Air Force, Carpentier died of a heart attack in 1975.

A decade after his death, the Parisian Sports Arena in the 13th arrondissement of Paris was renamed Halle Georges-Carpentier after him.

Along with Marcel Cerdan, he remains one of France's best boxers.

Born in Liévin in Pas-de-Calais, Carpentier began his career by progressing up through the weight divisions, fighting in every division from welterweight upwards.