Darcy versus SRR

Les Darcy was one of the better middleweights who ever stepped inside the ring. I think he's got a case for being rated among the twenty best fighters at the weight.- and actually put him in the number ten slot on one or two lists.

It's quite likely that had he survived, he could have reigned over the division throughout the latter part of the teens and into the 20's, depending on whom he faced.

That being said, the thread starter does Darcy a disservice by acting in such a douche-tastic manner.

 

Ya gotta be from OZ, h, 'n a loyal son.

Darcy was a helluva fighter, from everything i've read, but Greb, Walker, Dempsey and Tunney were some pretty tall timber. SRR, goes without saying.

 

I'm staying out of this...but will say even as a youngster, Darcy is an absolute beast on film. Has a style reminescent of Jack Johnson, very quick on his feet, very strong, initiated his attack with a piledriver jab, and was murder when he clinched up with an opponent. He was a powerhouse, and would have been illegal had he matured. Would have given anyone more than a fight.

 

When Darcy came to America and sat ringside at a fight between George "K.O.' Brown and Billy Miske, Brown, who had already fought Darcy twice, and lost the fight with Miske, said he'd place his money on Miske if Darcy and Miske met in the ring. It's hard for me to imagine him beating Greb.

 

At the point in time the Darcy who fought Brown, would have problably lost to Miske. But the films show Darcy improving steadily through 1916 culminating with a brutal defeat of George Chip. Who had never lost in a fashion like that before (the McCoy KO was fluky). So the gap was closing very fast. Maybe George Chip's opinion might differ a bit from your own(?)

 

Unrivalled?? He'd been fighting since 1910.

 

It remains to be seen what Darcy would have accomplished, if anything, fighting away from home, in front of a hostile audience, on cards promoted by unfriendly promoters, and officiated by officials who werent literally tied to his success. Darcy had everything his own way fighting in Australia. Probably the friendliest situation any fighter has ever experienced at the world class level. Australians always seem to forget that. Things would have been drastically different in USA.

 

A lot of Australians thought Brown beat Darcy.

 

It would have remained to be seen, but it was also quite apparent for anyone to see that Darcy was indeed improving, and in liklihood would have continued to improve. I've heard your complaints against Darcy's opponents not recieving a fair shake...and I'm not privy to the details, but if you would, do tell what you see in the Darcy/Chip video re favoritism towards Darcy, where it matters.... in the ring.

 

I see a guy fighting several thousand miles from home very soon after a long sea journey in front of a hostile crowd, with a referee bought and paid for by his management team, at a stadium owned by his promoter, etc etc. Are you going to deny that those conditions dont favor Darcy? Its hard as hell to win on the road and was even more difficult in those days long sea voyages, vastly different foods, etc. As Ive said before, it would have been interesting to see how good Darcy could perform when the shoe was on the other foot.

 

I think that Chip's dog died that day too...Then he got thrashed like he had never been before.

 

I find it funny when some try to pretend like Darcy didnt have every single possible advantage going into his fights, and somehow that doesnt raise questions...

You do realize that Chip had been outboxed and stopped BEFORE he ever met Darcy right? Buck Crouse might have something to say about the comment that Darcy thrashed Chip like he had never been thrashed before, seeing as how Crouse beat the dog **** out of Chip years earlier (not to mention the film of Darcy-Chip clearly shows Darcy having plenty of trouble with Chip over the first five rounds). That would be a much younger Buck Crouse than the one who took bribe from Snowy Baker to lay down in the second against Darcy. Stadiums LTD had to do damage control after all since they were still trying to repair Darcy's invincible image at home after the KO Brown decision.

Its funny that some have such a high opinion of a fighter who has so many questions sorrounding his career especially given the wealth of anecdotal information about bribes, thrown fights, gambling, and fixed decision which he benefitted from. Ill leave it at that because this subject has been done to death but anyone wanting to dig deeper into Darcy's supposed greatness will have no trouble finding more than a few warts which likely would have been exposed in the USA had he lived to fight here.