Editing Georges Carpentier (section)

== Biography ==
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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. 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 [[William Thomas Wells|"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'Keefe|Pat O'Keeffe]] and in [[London]] on 16 July he beat [[Ed "Gunboat" Smith]] to add the [[World White Heavyweight Championship|"White Heavyweight Champion of the World"]] to his European title. The white heavyweight title bout sported a purse worth £9,000 (equivalent to approximately £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|9000|1914|r=0}}}} today{{inflation-fn|UK}}).

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 (boxer)|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 1914–1918 (France)|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.
[[File:Jack Dempsey v Georges Carpentier cph.3b35134.jpg|thumb|left|Dempsey and Carpentier in the arena before the fight]]

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/lheavy.htm|title=The Lineal Light Heavyweight Champions|publisher=The Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia}}</ref> The fight took place on 12 October 1920, in [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]] and Levinsky was knocked out in the fourth. Carpentier's attempt at the heavyweight Championship of the world came on [[Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier|2 July 1921]], again in Jersey City, when he faced [[Jack Dempsey]] in front of boxing's first million dollar gate (approximately ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|1000000|1921|r=-6}}}} 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. 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 [[Senegal]]ese 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 [[Technical knockout|TKO]] after fifteen rounds. He retired from the ring after a final exhibition bout in 1927.

[[File:Dorgan cartoon predicting events of Dempsey-Carpentier fight.jpg|left|thumb|In June 1921, cartoonist [[Tad Dorgan]] drew what he expected would occur in the Carpentier-Dempsey fight.]]

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. As a singer he cut [http://www.phonobase.org/advanced_search.php?GETTitre=&GETCompaut=&GETInterprete=carpentier,+georges&langue=en two sides on a gramophone record in 1927] for Pathé, in the style of French singer [[Maurice Chevalier]]. 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 film]]s and [[talkies]]. He made three films in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], US, one for director [[J. Stuart Blackton]] in England and two in his native France. 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.

From the time they boxed together in 1921, Carpentier remained close friends with Jack Dempsey. They visited each other in New York and Paris, got together to commemorate the anniversary of their famous bout and exchanged birthday greetings.