les darcy. the greatest.

The story of Australia’s greatest and most tragic boxer, Les Darcy. At 19 Darcy was the middleweight and heavyweight champion of Australia and a contender for the world title. But he was fighting against the backdrop of World War One and Australia was torn by the issue of conscription.

Rewind investigates how Les Darcy became a political pawn in the conscription debate and why the county’s most famous sporting hero did a runner for the United States, stowing away on a tramp steamer before tragically dying at just 21 in a Memphis Hospital.

MICHAEL CATHCART: Now, 90 years ago, there was a young bloke whose name was as familiar to Australians as, say, Ian Thorpe is today. A big-hearted, courageous 19-year-old boxer who was idolised around the country. Yet, two years later he was dead, and branded, of all things, a coward, his reputation ruined by a controversy that bitterly divided Australia - whether young men should be conscripted and sent off to war. Here's Rewind historian Rebe Taylor with the story of Les Darcy.

GREG GROWDEN, AUTHOR: I think without a doubt, Les Darcy is possibly Australia's greatest fighter. Even now, he's up there with Don Bradman and Phar Lap as the...a great... the Australian sporting saint.

REBE TAYLOR: Les Darcy won 46 of his 50 professional bouts in the ring. At just 19, he was middle and heavyweight boxing champion of Australia, and a serious contender for the world crown.

JACK STITT, BOXING HISTORIAN: He won the version of the world's title at 19. He was never actually hurt in the ring, never knocked down, never cut, never staggered, and so strong and powerful he just made these fellows look second-rate.

REBE TAYLOR: Les Darcy was perhaps Australia's greatest boxer. But while so brave in the ring, he would be branded as one of our biggest cowards. He was a man caught between his love of his country, his devotion to his mother and his desire for fame and fortune. Darcy country - the rolling hills of Maitland, two hours north of Sydney. This bark hut was Les's first home. His father, a farm labourer, struggled to support eight children. Les began work as a blacksmith's apprentice. It was good training for his real passion - boxing.

HARRY BOYLE: They had an abnormally long reach - all the Darcys.

REBE TAYLOR: Very long arms.

As a young boy, Harry Boyle was a close friend of the Darcy family in Maitland.

HARRY BOYLE: Of a Sunday he would put the gloves on with anyone who'd like to step in with him. And what used to happen was he wouldn't hurt them, but they could go as hard as they liked. That's where he was building up his defence, you know?

REBE TAYLOR: Having beaten all-comers locally, the Maitland Wonder was ready for the big time. And Sydney was very big time. The world's biggest indoor stadium was at Rushcutters Bay. Huge fights were hosted there, like the 1908 world heavyweight title between the great black boxer Jack Johnson and Canadian Tommy Burns. Promoter Snowy Baker could make £20,000 in a single night. Always on the lookout for new talent, the kid from Maitland caught his eye.

GREG GROWDEN: I think Baker and a few of them twigged that this guy could be the person, that Darcy could be the man. So they organised his first fight at the stadium which ended up in a riot.

REBE TAYLOR: Outraged that the controversial decision went to the American middleweight Fritz Holland, Darcy's fans set fire to the stadium.

GREG GROWDEN: And in the middle of this chaos, I think Snowy looked at his brother Harold and thought, "I think we've found the guy, we've got the boxer."

REBE TAYLOR: And they had. Snowy Baker's protege vanquished every challenger from home and abroad, almost without injury. But in one fight, his two front teeth were knocked out and stapled back in with gold pins. Films of the fights made Les a celebrity in America, and every penny he earned went to his mother - over £10,000 during his time in the ring.

JACK STITT: He was fighting mainly not for himself but for his family. His family was big and poor, and he wanted to provide for them.

REBE TAYLOR: But a much bigger fight would soon test his loyalties and eventually destroy him. The Great War was consuming a generation of young men, and as the casualties mounted, Prime Minister Billy Hughes, the 'Little Digger', mounted a referendum campaign to conscript all men over 21. The advertising blitz seemed to directly target the young boxer.

WARTIME ADVERTISEMENTS: "The War cannot be won on points
It must be a Knock-out."

"Now is the hour when Australia is called upon to gird up her loins and make her great effort."

"His Majesty King George asks you to vote YES on the 28th."

REBE TAYLOR: If Les was to enlist, it would be a huge boost to the prime minister's campaign. He did complete military training with the Maitland Light Horse. But he couldn't formally enlist. He was under 21 and he needed his mother's permission.

HARRY BOYLE: The whole story of Les Darcy is really the story of a boy's love for his mother. And he done everything for her, like, to put her on easy street. And it was her, actually, by refusing to sign his enlistment papers and that, that caused all his trouble.

REBE TAYLOR: She didn't want him to go to war?

HARRY BOYLE: She wouldn't let him go to war because he was under-age and she had to sign the papers and wouldn't do it.

REBE TAYLOR: Darcy received white feathers in the mail - a fierce accusation of cowardice. Promoter Snowy Baker felt the political heat as financial backers threatened to pull the plug. In August 1916, Snowy announced that Darcy would have no more fights until he enlisted.

GREG GROWDEN: Les Darcy, I think, realised his best way of helping Australia was to be a great boxer because he thought that was a great way of uplifting morale. And the fights sort of just dried up. And he was in a situation where he didn't know where to turn.

REBE TAYLOR: So what did he do? Having been denied a passport, Darcy secretly boarded a tramp steamer at Newcastle Harbour and hid under a tarpaulin. His destination - New York. Australia's most famous sportsman had done a runner. When Les arrived in New York, he was met by a mob of promoters promising fights and great riches. But the controversy had followed him. Les was again compelled to defend his honour.

MAN AS LES DARCY: "It's great to be here in America. Before I left Australia, I informed the authorities of my willingness to join the army. But before I don the uniform, I wanted a little money to take care of my folks."

REBE TAYLOR: The campaign against Darcy became vicious on both sides of the Pacific.

MAN AS AUSTRALIAN REPORTER: "What has Les Darcy done for Australia? He has turned tail and made a bolt of it the moment when it seemed he could no longer dodge his plain duty to his country that has fed and pampered him."

REBE TAYLOR: New York's famous boxing columnist Damon Runyon joined the fray.

MAN AS DAMON RUNYON: "The commercial eye of the fight promoters recognised his money-making possibilities and they caused him to forget his duty."

REBE TAYLOR: Les's former mentor Snowy Baker drove the final nail into his professional coffin.

MAN AS SNOWY BAKER: "Owing to Les Darcy's unpatriotic action and clearing out from his country at a time when he should be doing his bit with his comrades, it's been decided to strip him of his middleweight and heavyweight titles."

REBE TAYLOR: So do you think he was trying to shirk his duty?

BOB POWERS: No. Definitely not. He wasn't. A man like Darcy... Look, he was fearless in the ring. He'd beaten some of the greatest boxers that America could send out. So he was no shirker, no coward.

REBE TAYLOR: The hate campaign bit deeper still. With America poised to enter the war, state governors branded Darcy a coward and banned him from boxing. Desperate, Les took out American citizenship and enlisted with the US Air Corps. But it was too late. In Memphis, Tennessee, Darcy fell ill. The two front teeth that had been stapled back into his gums in Sydney became ulcerated. The infection spread to his bloodstream. Pneumonia followed. Les died on May 24, 1917, far from home. He was just 21. Branded a coward in life, in death he was reinstated a hero. A quarter of a million people lined Sydney's Oxford Street as his casket was taken to Central Station on the boxer's final journey back to Maitland.

HARRY BOYLE: In my opinion, Les was just a big-hearted country lad and other people took advantage of him.

GREG GROWDEN: He was one of Australia's great sportsmen. But did he reach his full potential? What could he have done in America? Could he have been one of the greatest boxers of all time?

REBE TAYLOR: Les Darcy never fought in the trenches. But the war stole him from his loving mother anyway.

 

fred fulton, recently voted in the top ten heavyweights never to get a title shot, at his peak, was ko'd in 2 in a spar with darcy, when darcy was in the us, just before he died.

 

well, they had something special to cheer about.

imagine mundine and darcy over 20 rounds at the old tin shed stadium at rushcutters......

mundine would have been MURDERED by darcy.

 

fights with jack dempsey and georges carpentier were talked about. the carpentier bout would have happened withing a couple of years. but george went of to fight in the war, and les died..

 

http://www.the-rathouse.com/2008/Darcy-fights.html

Ringside observers could see the amazed look on McGoorty's face when Darcy continued after the blow. In his corner, the bemused McGoorty muttered to his seconds.



"I hooked him good and hard and he only grinned!"

"Do it again!"



Toe to toe in the second round the two men unleashed one of the most intense two minutes of punching and counter-punching ever seen in the Stadium. Shocked into silence by the intensity of the encounter, the scraping sound of McGoorty's shoes on the canvas could be clearly heard as he finally yielded and gave ground to the young Australian.



In the third round, the American indeed managed to 'do it again' with another potentially lethal left hand to the chin. According to reports afterwards, the disappointment of having his ultimate weapon laughed off by the Maitland boy nearly broke his heart. He could not win by a knockout, he could not win on points against the tireless Darcy assault, all he could do was dig in and try to survive for 20 rounds. In the fifteenth Police Inspector Jones at ringside called a halt as McGoorty was out on his feet, still game but unable to defend himself.



That boy's the best fighter I ever fought. He's the greatest fighter in the world. He's hard to hit and harder still to hurt. I don't think there's anyone in the world could beat him.

Eddie McGoorty



Les Darcy is the best man in the world. I bar no one, not even Jess Willard (world heavyweight champion). The man who can take Eddie McGoory's left swing on the jaw without flinching would not be hurt by anyone.

Fritz Holland