Life of Les Darcy in Serial Form in Newspaper

Another article on the same day talking about the upcoming Darcy Vs Clabby fight.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117551378/13119099

 

got a book a few years ago off amazon,the title is THE BALLAD OF LES DARCY,by peter fitzimmons ,came out 2007.

 

More on Darcy vs Clabby, this is from the day of the fight just some hours before the fight. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117549704/13119107

 

Yeah I have the book even though I hold a dim view of Peter Fitzsimmons who is a lefty idiot but yes great book.

 

this is great. honestly, stuff like this is a proper treat to me on a sunday afternoon.

i also posted on that facebook page i have....send me a link to yours and i can credit you with fixing text.

 

i have a few books on darcy that a friend in australia sent me some months back and still havent started them. i must.
them and pollacks two books on jack johnson are sitting waiting for me for a while now.....went back to one of my old jobs a year ago and this hobby of reading and viewing all things boxing history took a bit of a back seat....but its a great treat to delve into a bit of reading or viewing old videos every now and then.

 

these are a couple of those darcy books i'll be starting on soon..

http://i.imgur.com/v1gWR1j.jpg

 

seeing as you mentioned his book...and who darcy rubbed shoulders with...


.....



A knock on the Broztell Hotel door. Les opens it. It is the young hotel porter, a painfully thin Negro, and he is deeply sorry suh, but there is someone downstairs who is insisting on seeing Mistuh Darcy. Sez he is an Oss-tralian, too. And he used to be a boxer. The thing is, Mistuh Darcy, it is difficult to know much of him, ‘cos he might be drunk, but he sez his name is ‘Griff’, ‘Griffa’, sum’n like that? Young Griffo? The boxing hero of Australia, who had left home shores in 1893 never to return? Great! Show him up! But Mistuh Darcy, he very drunk, not too good dressed, terrible, rotten, black teeth, and thuh hotel probably wouldn’t want likes of him in the building… Fine, but please get him!

And so the young porter does, returning shortly afterwards and furtively pushing a fat old drunk man into Mistuh Darcy’s room before skedaddling. He is going to catch hell from management, if they find out.

And so there they are, Les Darcy and Young Griffo—each a hero before heading to America to seek their international fame and fortune—meeting in a New York hotel room in the early days of 1917.

They talk… The fact that ‘Young Griffo’ is no longer young is obvious, as is the fact that the young porter hadn’t been exaggerating in his description. Griffo’s teeth are terrible, he reeks of alcohol, and is evidently doing it very tough indeed. These days one of his tricks to get more alcohol is to take a handkerchief into a bar, stand on it and bet someone that they can’t lay a single punch on him for a whole minute while he doesn’t take a step off the hankie, but simply dodges and ducks all their blows! No, he couldn’t win a real fight in the ring these days, but by God he can still keep himself in grog.

They laugh and talk. Les is delighted to meet this Australian legend, and later tips the porter a quarter, telling the disbelieving young man that the ‘fat old alko’—as the porter would later describe Griffo, whom he brought up to Les’s room—was once one of the greatest featherweight boxers of them all.

(by Peter Fitzsimons)

 

Well only thing stopping me from trying to do a biography of Darcy is time and I am not sure how long I have got. The best Darcy book I think is either the Peter Fenton one or the Raymond Swanwick one. The Swanwick one is excellent because it has a lot of info and many great photos and a great cartoon of him. Yes a complete biography of Darcy's life is probably needed but it would need to concentrate far more on his career and of course be as big as at least those two books I mentioned put together. I also needs to include more about the time in boxing.. in other words take us back to that time. We need to see boxing and the world titles from that perspective, not the altered and somewhat re-written version we have from our perspective. More discussion on how he fits in with the great middleweights and to really give a picture of how he was held in such awe at the time... like including the article on Fred Kay's recollections and opinions of Darcy.

Fred Kay was a really good fighter, a welterweight champ in Australia who was usually well under the welterweight limit. Kay had some great wins in his career. I will post up that article from 1930's next just to see what he had to say.

 

LES DARCY

THE, SUPER-MAN OF BOXING

Had The Power Of a Mule's Kick In His Punches

The noted boxer of some years ago, Fred Kay, telling of his ring
battles to J. M. Rohan, in Melbourne's "Sporting Globe,"

says.—

Foolhardlness and pluck are not even distantly related, yet some
fighters think they are first cousins, I never got them confused.
In boxing, divisions are clearly defined and if an enterprising man
wishes to exploit fresh fields he should look before he leaps.
No one ventured more into heavier divisions that I did, but I always trod warily. You can, in many cases, pit speed against weight, but you cannot concede weight to a superman. I regarded Les Darcy as a superman, and that is why I did not meet him in the ring. To be truthful, I thanked my lucky stars that I was well under the
welterweight limit; it saved me from making excuses.

My regard for Darcy is something I could not express fully
in words. He seemed to have in reserve a hidden power that he could turn on at a moment's notice. I firmly believe that he could have made mincemeat of all the middleweights of this and other generations. Some claim that he could have licked all the heavyweights in his path and won a world's championship, but I differ from them. At best, Darcy could, no doubt, have beaten all the light heavies. I don't think he could have built up to more
than 12.3 and be fighting fit.

A MAN AND A HALF

A good little man hasn't a ghost of a chance against a good big man. Take for instance the fight between Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson. Burns was powerless against the bigger negro, who could have stopped the march of progress of an army of light heavyweights. Anyhow, argument concerning the ability of Darcy to defeat the giants of the ring has no place in this story. He showed us what he could do to the first-class middleweights who were in Australia when he was climbing the ladder of fame. Les Darcy was
half as strong again as the average middleweight. With his phenomenal strength he could get an opponent off balance and punish him severely. The tougher the fight, the better Darcy
liked it; and woe betide the man who hurt him Buck Crouse would verify this. Crouse landed a heavy punch on Darcy's jaw. The Maitland boy just shook his head and knocked Crouse through the ropes for the count.

The story goes that when Costica and Crouse arrived in Australia, Costica was matched with Darcy. A wag told Costica that he had better practise getting up and down from the floor as that would be all he would have to do when he met Darcy. It was true enough too. When Crouse remonstrated with Costica for his poor showing,
Costica snapped back, "All right, Mr. Crouse; if Darcy don't like your face you won't get up and down like me you'll stay down." Costica was on the high seas to America when Crouse was outed, but I'll bet ho had a good laugh when he received the news. In
the course of a fight, many blows are taken on the arms, which become very sore. Usually a hot bath and massage is sufficient to get a boxer over the effects in a day, but men who fought Darcy couldn't lift their arms for days. With the strength of an ox he almost paralysed them with his blows. I heard one say that a less painful procedure would be to take one early on the chin.

DAZED FOR A WEEK BY A PUNCH

Les O'Donuell, who sparred with all the imported middleweights, told me that it was astounding what Darcy could do in a clinch with his great strength. He was positive that middleweight could handle Darcy if the Maitland lad went flat out. Big Kelley Mansfield, who sparred with Darcy, once declared that he was dazed for a week after slopping one of his hooks. After defeating Fred Dyer in
Melbourne in 11 rounds I returned to Sydney. I was met by my mate, Ted Thomas, who figured out that as I had beaten Dyer in 11 rounds, and Dyer had gone 20 rounds with Darcy in Brisbane, I was in a line for a fight with Darcy. Nothing was further from
my thoughts, and when I said so Thomas was surprised. "Why ?" he said. I made no bones about telling Thomas that if was my intention to leave boxing witli a bit of sense, I wasn't money
hungry like the Americans who only fought Darcy because they could be sure of getting a good "wad" of cash, and were prepared to. take a hiding to get it. I wasn't a bit like that. George Chip was knocked out by Les Darcy in 9 rounds. When he recovered he
asked Jimmy Clabby to explain the secret of how he (Clabby) had stayed 20 rounds with Darcy on two occasions Clabby was a quiet humorist. With a grin he told Chip that he made the mistake of showing Darcy that he had designs on knocking him. "The next
time you meet him, go easy," said Clabby. "There ain't goin' to be no next time," declared Chip with vehemence. Red Watson, tbe American lightweight tornado, was a great admirer of Darcy, and he got many a laugh )

when he heard Americans declaring what they would do to Darcy when they met him. Red never failed to seek their views afterwards, and he invariably had to console them with the remark that perhaps they would fare better next time, since they knew
his style. As I said before, the thought that was uppermost in the minds of the Americans concerning Darcy was that they were assured of getting a good reward for what they were about
to receive from him.

SHUGRUE WAS HIS INSPIRATION

The Stadium management found that it was not payable proposition to match newcomers early with Darcy. He could knock a fighter out of the boom in a night. Darcy greatly admired Joe Shugrue as a fighter. He knew that Shugrue was going blind, and he applauded his fortitude as well as his skill. As we watched Shugrue one day in the gymnasium, Darcy remarked: "If I could do what Joe can do, I'd give some of the visitors a hiding " I reminded him that he was ladling out enough hidings as It was. Shugrue
worked a fine turn with Bobby Moore, an American, who came out with him, at charity allows. While Shugrue was in the ring, Moore, who was seated in the audience, would call out: "Give the audience something for their money." "You come into the ring
and I'll give you something for nothing," Shugrue would reply. Moore would accept the challenge and they would indulge in what appeared to be a real ding-dong "go" Ultimately they would connect simultaneously with right swings, and fall down, to be both
counted out amid the roar of the crowd. When they cause to they would recognise each other, shake hands and apologise, lt was a turn that I enjoyed every time I saw it.

Talking of" spectacular knockouts reminds me of the night the Belgian, Arthur Wynns, fought Sid Godfrey at Rushcutter's Bay Stadium. Wynne had Godfrey on the ropes in the 10th round, when the Sydney lad, with aid from the ropes, threw a haymaker that
knocked Wynns clean out. Wynne came out with Eugene Criqui, and was rated a better fighter than the Frenchman, Godfrey, however, spoiled his reputation. When Godfrey was matched with
Criqui some weeks later, Criqui evened up for the "stable" by knocking out Godfrey in the 10th round. Godfrey had to make weight for the tough little Criqui, and that was his undoing.
Had he been allowed to get in at 9.4 —his natural fighting weight—it would have been a slam worth going miles to see.

CARROLL RANKS WITH BEST WELTERS

Quite a lot has been written about old-timers and their skill, but I intend to say a few words about one whose memory is still green—Jack Carroll. it is my firm opinion that had Jack Carroll fought in my day, he would have yarded up till the welterweights—myself, included, and slathered us to ribbons. Some old welters
will say that I should speak for myself, but I have good reasons for lauding Carroll. In mv day the fighter with a straight left could be depended on to win the majority of his bouts. Carroll could use left and right with equal effect, and I say that two hands are better than one. I won decisions against some of the best welters in the world. For every punch I employed to win my fights, Carroll had ten.
Carroll had the finest repertoire of punches of any welter I have seen. He employed them like a tradesman, and it is a pity there were not more opponents for him when in his best years.

I class the late Les Darcy as the greatest middleweight of all time '
and Jack Carroll as the best style i of fighter I have seen.

 

LOL. They already wrote your version of Les Darcy's life. Its a comic book called Superman.

 

Trolls can even come with fake Mexican identities