FROM THE BOOKS

   Dempsey's great drawing power, as developed by Tex Rickard, first was felt in his title defense against Carpentier. In 1920 Jack had twice defended his crown, against Billy Miske and Bill Brennan, but those were just two more heavyweight championship fights.
   Not only was Dempsey not a good drawing card at this time, but he was still more or less despised by the general public who still remembered he had been tried on charges of being a slacker in World War I. The courts had officially cleared him of the charges, but the legal verdict had little effect on people at large. Dempsey had to win his way into public favor.
   Signing Georges Carpentier to fight Dempsey at Boyle's Thirty Acres, Jersey City, for July 2, 1921, was a shrewd piece of work by Tex Rickard. The Frenchman, with a gaudy if superficial war record, had returned to Paris in one piece-and hungry. He was a pretty fair light heavyweight, but he was so light they trained him in secret, so that no one would find out that he was no match for the man who had routed Willard. At any rate, Rickard, knowing the public's love of a hero vs. villain, cast Dempsey, the scowling, wire-bearded "draft dodger" as the bad guy, with the apple-cheeked Carpentier, the amiable, personable soldier boy, as the good guy. Pictures of Dempsey, riveting battleships in patent leather shoes-all at his manager Jack Kearns' behest-flooded the sports pages, along with those of Carpentier, virtually winning the war single-handed.
   The fight was the first to be broadcast, with Graham McNamee describing the action, and it had the whole nation taking sides for or against Dempsey. The bout itself was nothing. It was all over in four rounds. Most experts figured Dempsey could have nailed Carpentier in the first round had he been in a hurry to get home. From ringside, all French ships at sea received this cabled flash: "Your Frog flattened in fourth"-for a new high in international diplomacy. A crowd of 75,000 paid $1,789,238 to watch Dempsey do his thing.
   It marked the first of the great organized ballyhoos. Boxing was off on a mad, squanderous, money rampage which during the next nine years saw 1,488,900 customers contributing $14,247,313 for big fights around New York alone.
 

John D. McCallum-The World Heavyweight Boxing Championship