I have incorrectly stated Darcy having died, 24th april.... In fact, 24th of May, 1917. Yet another typo..... apologies.
Sands would have gone on to reign as middleweight champion for a long time imo. Simply amazing looking back and seeing how he held the middle, light heavy, and heavy titles in oz at the same time. Remarkable feat
Other than Robinson, the other detremental factor facing Sands at the time, was his ability to go some what stir-crazy whilst fighting abroad. He found ventures to foreign countries extremerly tiresome. Homesickness was always a fundamental issue with him. This may have impacted greatly on him, even as potential champion.
There is a newspaper report in the NZ Truth where an ex-fighter talks about the time he saw Darcy slip under Fulton's left and all in the same movement, landed the hardest, shortest and sweetest left hook to the jaw, Fulton was poleaxed and and got up at the count of 7. Jack Dempsey also related the story to D'Arcy Niland, so this event was a fact, I also found another reference where a by-stander said that Darcy was annoyed at big Fred's dismissive comments, Darcy said something about giving the loudmouth something to remember. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As for how good Les Darcy was, Dempsey's manager, Jack Kearns claimed over a decade later in his biography (the excerpts of which were published in a U.S. Newspaper in 1928)..... that Les Darcy was the greatest Middleweight to ever live,... "Doc" said that Darcy was easily the greatest prodigy in boxing history, and as most know, Kearns had seen them all, he had seen greats from the 1890's (like Fitzsimmons, they were in their twilight) to the 50's............ as late as the 60's, Jack Kearns had not changed his mind, declaring that even though he managed Mickey Walker's careerm Les Darcy would have made mincemeat....... considering the short shrift that Darcy distanced himself from Kearns, it would seem that despite this, Kearns was always a huge Darcy fan...... anyway, I think Kearns's opinions must be respected.
The Darcy Fulton story has been dissected to death here on another thread. It cannot be and has never been verified as fact. Furthermore Dempsey was no where near Darcy's training camp with this supposedly took place, it was as much a rumor to him as it is to us and he was simply repeating it as fact.
I am not stating this this is fact, but there are early reports. Jack Dempsey never met Darcy, he said so, and he admitted he heard Kearns talk about it often. I can't verify that the bloke in the NZ truth report was lying, or telling the truth, but he stated that he was there, and he was American. What I do know is that this story has an origin, and it seemed to have been very well known by around 1922 (I'll have to search for that NZ article then I'll let you make up your own mind,.. fair enough ??... after all, if the guy was drunk, it's hard to smell the alcohol on his breath after 90 years)..... One query, if it never happened why didn't Fulton come out and give his version ??... surely this had reached his ears by then...... and I have seen a report about Darcy going to spar Fulton the next day, so there was certainly some sparring, and maybe they didn't like each other..... sometimes you have to peep through the lines, I'm sure you have to do that for your Greb research. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BTW, I admit to Greb's greatness but you don't seem to give Darcy anywhere near the same respect.
Kearns wasnt there either. Who was this nameless "bloke" who was supposedly there? If it was so well known in 1922 why was it never mentioned FIVE FULL YEARS earlier when it supposedly took place? As if that wouldnt have been big news? That a middleweight guy they were trying to build into a mega match had just knocked out the #1 HW contender... you think Rickard wouldnt have publicized that all over creation? yeah right, nice try. I dont doubt they sparred but sparring is a huge leap from a five foot eight 160 lber KOing a six foot six 220 pounder. How do you know Fulton didnt refute the story? Frankly the story isnt or wasnt well known despite what you may think. Ive looked through literally thousands of newspapers from that era and have never once seen this incident mentioned. NEVER. The only time you hear it is much much later, and its always "i knew a guy who was there and blah blah blah." Sorry but those stories dont hold any weight with me. I can say I knocked out Vitali Klitchko, if he doesnt refute it does that make it true? Not hardly.
The research I've read on the Darcy-Fulton matter by Australian boxing historians indicate that Darcy, who did spar with Fulton, once ended up being too quick for Fulton in sparring, leading to Fulton calling the session off. Somewhere down the line it probably got exaggerated as many stories do, especially ones involving a 6'6 heavyweight and a 5'6 middleweight who ended up dying before fulfilling his potential.
I know nat fleisher rates him 8 all-time RING magazine, I saw him on some short clips hard to judge ,but hear he was another Ketchel,but you know ratings are hard!!!
this is true of many, many more too you know, and the same names always get repeated. What about Britain's Jock McAvoy & Bert Gilroy? what about the rest of the murderers row, other than Burley or Williams, what IF Marshall was'nt mob controlled? Boxing IS LITTERED with Unknown or Unheralded GREATS, and as that new book about Boxing's Greatest UNCROWNED Champion's states, the fighters who where champs had the privilege of belonging to the right people, were moved and steared properly, met certain fighters at the right time or Not at All... too many Greats to mention and far too many left out, or forgotten!!!
Your pont is very valid, so manys unheralded kudos need to be handed out from across the globe. As far as the Aussie go... yes we bleet on about Darcy and Sands, keeping their memory alive is an important thing, at the same time we have the likes of Carroll, Hill, Palmer, Patrick and others who could have proved themseles on the world stage given the chance, names that are rarely mentioned on these boards.
If anyone can show me a source that isnt second hand which even comes close to hinting at this then Id consider it.