Archdeacon: The heavyweight return of Amaël L’Etang

All four are French heavyweight boxers.

Carpentier, known as The Orchid Man, was a French aviation hero in World War I who won the world’s light heavyweight crown and European heavyweight title before fighting Jack Dempsey at Boyle’s 30 Acres in New Jersey.

It was the first-ever mega fight. It drew a crowd of 80,000, had the first-ever $1 million gate (actually almost $1.8 million) and was the first national broadcast of a heavyweight title fight, a bout Dempsey won with a fourth round KO.

Siki, also a French war hero who sometimes fought as a heavyweight, won the light heavyweight title from Carpentier and became boxing’s first black champion since Jack Johnson.

Tony Yuko won a gold medal for France at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and now is 13-3 as a pro.

And L’Etang?

Well, calling him a heavyweight boxer might be a bit of a stretch.

The Dayton Flyers’ 7-foot-1 sophomore post player — the tallest guy ever to wear a UD uniform — is still quite thin though he’s now listed as 230 pounds, 15 pounds more than he said he was when he came to Dayton two seasons ago from Toulouse, France.

As for a boxer, he’s never been in an actual fight in the ring, but he did train this past summer under the tutelage of trainer Daniel Meza Cuadra at the DMC Boxing Academy in Centerville.

And in the past week, L’Etang has registered two impressive knockouts.

Last Wednesday night he had the best game in his two seasons at UD as he led the Flyers to a 82-67 victory at George Mason, a place where they had lost four straight.

He scored a career-high 21 points on nine-of-11 shooting from the floor, added six rebounds and didn’t have a turnover in 33 minutes of play.

He followed that up in Saturday’s physical game with Duquesne, this time with a team-high 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two blocked shots and, once again, no turnovers.

The Dukes tried to be physical with L’Etang, who at times early in his career had trouble standing up to the bump-and-bully play you can run into under the hoop in American basketball.

He was lighter then, inexperienced and had trouble holding firm against opposing big men — maybe they weren’t taller, but often were wider, heavier and more experienced — who backed him down.

He worked on his game and his conditioning and with the help of UD coaches — he has a special connection to Ricardo Greer who had a 14-year Hall of Fame career in France — and has hopes of following the developmental path of DaRon Holmes II, another tall, thin Flyer who muscled up and blossomed here and was an NBA draft pick two years ago.

Some of his most important strides here have come in the weight room and at the training table – thanks to the guidance of strength and conditioning coach Casey Cathrall and athletic trainer Mike Mulcahey.

The trips to the boxing gym began after his freshman season last year – a campaign where he played in 34 games, started 18 and averaged 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds a game.

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

“I like boxing,” L’Etang said Saturday. “I wanted to do it for conditioning. It’s good for core work. It’s good too because you learn not to be afraid to hit … or get hit. I think it was good for me.

“I finally had to stop because when (basketball) practices started and with school, it just became too much. But I hope to do it again.”

When L’Etang had to put his fistic training on hold at DMC, Meza Cuadra assessed the time they spent together:

“He wasn’t allowed to spar. If he would have gotten injured, I’m sure the coach would have been in trouble. But the training he was getting here helped him and I think you’ll see a difference this season.”

That’s the case now though the season hasn’t been easy for L’Etang, who suffered a knee injury in practice on December 29 and missed four straight games. He spent part of his exile on crutches.

He finally came back for a January 16 game against Loyola, playing 15 minutes off the bench but not scoring.

He played minimal time off the bench in two games in Philadelphia — LaSalle and Saint Joseph — and did not score. The Flyers lost both.

Saturday, for the first time, he addressed his thoughts during those tough times:

“It was kind of scary. I’m tall and any knee injury is scary.”

He praised the care he got from UD training staff and medical personnel and especially the support he got from the coaches and his teammates.

As he has returned to form, the Flyers have come out of their funk too. After losing five of six games and putting the season in peril, they have pulled back from the brink.

The three victories in a row have them in fourth place in the Atlantic 10, an important berth to get a double bye in the upcoming league tournament.

Saturday, along with L’Etang’s 17 points, UD got 14 from point guard Javon Bennett and 13 from Keonte Jones.

The Dukes used three different players on L’Etang during the game: 6-foot-9, 235-pound David Dixon; 6-foot-10, 265-pound John Hugley IV and 6-foot-10, 230 pound Jakub Necas.

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

Early in the second half, away from the action, L’Etang got shoved to the court and that brought loud protest from the crowd and UD coaches. But after a lengthy review, the officials decided there had been no foul.

That’s when L’Etang knew he had to take matters into his own hands.

When Duquesne’s enforcer — Alex Williams, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound grad student originally from Dayton — tried backing him down for an easy shot inside, L’Etang held firm and deflected the shot.

A few minutes later, L’Etang had the ball and came straight at Williams, going over him for the score. That’s some of the physicality and self-confidence he built up in the gym.

As for a return to boxing, L’Etang said he is open to it because of the benefits it brings.

“Boxing can help your life and develop you in so many ways,” Meza Cuadra has said.

Carpentier, the most famous French heavyweight, was the perfect example.

He went on to be a vaudeville song and dance man and appeared in several movies. Some were silent films, others talkies.

In the “Gipsy King” he was the hero after wading into a valley flooded purposely by an evil king. He saved the beautiful maiden and rescues her town.

The Flyers could use a guy like that right now and if these two games are testament, L’Etang, with those long legs and now toughened chin, might be just the guy to wade into the ever-churning waters of the A-10 and carry the team to a strong regular season finish, a good seeding in the league tournament and, if his teammates can also take a punch or three, an NCAA Tournament bid.