- Mark Hatmaker
- Feb 17
- 3 min read
As the 19th century rolled over to the 20th century, opinions regarding which fighting method was better—English boxing or boxe Francaise—were all over the map.
Arguments often boiled down to pure bias, or occasionally which side of the channel one resided on. Among unbiased observers today, there's little doubt that both pursuits can be entertaining for spectators and have contributed greatly to the advancement of ring strategies and tactics.
That historical contention did, however, motivate me to research the subject, and that led to my discovery of a martial artist who competed at the top tier in boxing and boxe Francaise. His name was Georges Carpentier, aka "The Orchid Man" or "The Orchid Kid."
At the aforementioned turn of the century, Carpentier was a noted boxe Francaise competitor who went on to win the French championship in 1907. The sport was in its heyday at the time, so we can assume that Carpentier was forced to face some of the best fighters the field had to offer.
But English boxing was making great inroads, and the allure of bigger paychecks was hard to ignore. With expanded economic horizons in his mind, Carpentier opted to try his hand at boxing.
Carpentier boxed with a smooth, precise style and fleet footwork that belied his boxe Francaise origins. He rapidly moved up in the ranks, taking the European welterweight, middleweight, and heavyweight titles.
In an effort to annex the light-heavyweight title in the States, he found himself facing a fine champion called Battling Levinsky, a boxer noted less for his power than for his excellent ring generalship. Levinsky had taken on some of the best brawlers his division had to offer, and he always comported himself well.
The two pugilists faced off on October 12, 1920. Carpentier wound up taking the honors and the win, if not the title. But it was this fight that brought the well-regarded, dapper Orchid Man to the attention of Jack Dempsey's flamboyant manager, a man named Jack Kearns.
Kearns was able to use the subsequent meeting of two seemingly contrasting personalities—the urbane Carpentier and the rough-and-ready Dempsey—to launch what would become the golden era of boxing.
Kearns parlayed this bout between the genteel and the brutal into the first million-dollar gate ($1,789,238 to be exact). It took place in a specially built outdoor arena that could accommodate 80,000 people.
Carpentier was the lighter fighter, but many thought his sharpshooting right hand and seemingly effortless footwork would nullify the Manassa Mauler's brawling style, particularly if he could stretch the match into the later rounds.
The billed "Battle of the Century" took place July 2, 1921, with the first round pretty much going how Dempsey enthusiasts thought it would. It was in the second round when Orchid Man fired an overhand that rocked the previously unrockable champ and kept him on the move. The crowd responded accordingly—and watched intently to see if history was going to be made.
By round three, Dempsey had returned to form, pummeling and cornering his lighter foe. In round four, he dropped Carpentier with a hook to the body, and the man stayed down until the count of nine.
The boxe Francaise fighter valiantly regained his feet—and was promptly dropped again thanks to a punishing shot to the jaw. The blow left him stretched out and unable to move a muscle until the count of eight.
At that point, Carpentier was unable to regain his feet, and Dempsey reigned supreme.
Despite the official outcome, there's little doubt Carpentier and boxe Francaise earned a great deal of respect that day.
After all, he was the smaller man, and he used his skills to put a feared and formidable champ, who was in his prime, in trouble in the second round. In any era, that's no small feat for any man or for any martial art.
