Life of Les Darcy in Serial Form in Newspaper

Darcy in the Ring-No. 6
WHEN DARCY WAS FOULED BUT LOST on a TKO
How Dave Smith brought about the only
T.K.O. recorded against Darcy is told
in this instalment of the great fighter's career
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE
How Dave Smith brought about the only T.K.O. recorded against Les Darcy is told in this instalment of the great fighter's history. Darcy
had been palpably fouled, and Smith was so incensed that he threw in the towel against Darcy's wishes. If Darcy lacked one essential to silence the critics who ever and anon arose to deny him his claims to
greatness, it was the ferocity that, for some strange reason, is almost universally associated with world championship class. He was no "killer." In all his fights he showed a repugnance to inflicting
unnecessary punishment. To him boxing was a sport and a science. The brutalities of the prize ring had no place in his technique. Content to win on points, cutting loose only when stung to retaliation,
he actually carried many an opponent through 20 rounds.
The fact that his record was so liberally sprinkled with these points wins over the full distance was eagerly seized on as proof that he had no knock-out punch. It is significant that the men who had faced
him in the ring were never heard to share that opinion. ONLY 5ft. 7in. in height, scaling little more than list. in weight, 10s
but a phenomenal reach of 79,5 in. Darcy quickly developed
a punch that, travelling only a few inches, laid out some of the toughest men in the game. Eddie McGoorty, "Buck" Crouse, George Chip, were only a few who were to feel its shattering force.
Under the expert tuition of that master of speed and ringcraft, Dave Smith, Darcy on November 7, 1914, in his fourth
Sydney Stadium appearance, faced Gus Christie. a vastly different proposition from the tearaway fighter who had made his debut only a few months previously. Where in the past he would hurl himself
at an opponent, thereby adding to the impetus of punches aimed at him, he had learned now to draw his man in by clever feinting, swiftly seizing every opening as it offered, -and even, creating them for himself. To this new Darcy the rushing tactics of the German-
American were as a gift from the gods. Christie had come over to Australia with a great reputation, which was enhanced by a victory over McGoorty in ten rounds in America. Darcy simply played with him.
AMERICAN
ROUGHHOUSE
The Australian opened hostilities with a left to the nose, a blow for which the American seemed throughout to have no punter, and his defence, whether in back-moving, side-stepping or blocking, was a revelation of what Dave Smith's teaching had already accomplished.
Darcy's superlative skill had the crowd, eagerly scenting a quick victory, in a furore, and Christie foolishly allowed this partisanship to get under his skin. As early as the second round he descended
to roughhouse tactics, but Darcy's good humor was no whit ruffled
until a left to his mouth in a breakaway roused his ire.
Slipping inside a right swing, he drove his own right just under Christie's heart, and it was to badly rattled American who
heard with relief the cry of "corners." In the third round Christie cut Darcy's left eyebrow deeply with a head bump, but never again could he reach that wound, so brilliant was the Australian's
defence. Every questionable practice that could escape the referee's eye was exploited by the American, but Darcy treated them all with a contempt that stirred the other's gall in close Christie would try to make play with his elbow, but Darcy, with a grin, would simply shove the offending arm away, and beat a merry tattoo on his opponent's ribs. For round after round he had treated the crowd to an exhibition of two-fisted fighting that all but the American appreciated to the full. Left and right jolts to the head and body were varied with straight lefts to the nose that bewildered even while they riled the victim.
RETRIBUTION
Long before the close it was apparent that he could have ended matters when he liked, but, as though determined to
make Christie pay for the liberties he was taking with the rules of fairplay, he prolonged the lesson to the utmost. Once, gaining a body hold, Christie tried throw his man. but Darcy laughingly tapped him off. The consummate ease with which the Australian met every new trick might have swayed the referee in allowing the American so
much latitude, but in the 16th Christie had to be cautioned for palpable butting at the chin. In the 19th Darcy gave Christie a
taste of what could have happened to him at any moment in the last few rounds Leading his left to the nose, he flashed a right uppercut to the jaw that stretched the American on the canvas.
In the final round Darcy was content to slam his man around the ring with rights and lefts, and at the bell the American did his one good deed of the night by the warmth with which he congratulated the Australian on his win.
BRISBANE DEBUT
About this time a brilliant fighter from Wales in Fred Dyer was
performing prodigies of valor at Brisbane, among his sterling exploits being a draw with Fritz Holland. The promoters saw a rich harvest In matching him with Darcy, incidentally affording the northern capital a chance of seeing the Australian champion, whose fame had spread far and wide. The conditions called for 11.4 ringside, and Dyer was announced as having just made the limit, Darcy being 31b. under.
Actually, the visitor was a good stone lighter, but doubtless it was feared that such a disparity in poundage would have militated against a good house. At the end of the contest, to settle arguments
about his weight, Dyer leaped on the scales, and the beam barely touched 10.2. They met on December 26, 1914, and it quickly became evident that Darcy was honoring a promise to box quietly and
spare his lighter opponent. Dyer, for his part, was set on seeing the full journey through, so that their engagement,
while interesting as an exhibition, was devoid of the fireworks that fans had come to expect in a Darcy fight: In the third round a left swing opened a slight cut on Darcy's right temple, but although Dyer kept pegging away at it, he found, as had Christie in similar
case, that never again could he connect with the wound.
Clever evasion by Dyer in the early rounds made Darcy miss with many leads but the never-ceasing battery took toll of the smaller man, and frequently penetrated his defence. Only the Australian's promise to restrain himself saved Dyer from a knock-out, and this easy points win over a boxer who, light as he was, had proved himself the
equal of the formidable Holland, put Darcy in line for a crack at Jeff Smith.

Article continued next post

 

NOW FOR JEFF SMITH

much confusion at this period over tile middleweight championship
of the world, but Smith, by his defeat of Jimmy Clabby, had established a claim to the title as good as any others, and it was a tribute to Darcy's vast improvement that he was
deemed worthy of such' a match. On January 23, 1915, they met at
Sydney Stadium, Darcy weighing 11.1 and Smith 11.5.
Darcy, confident as ever, led with a left, which was ducked, and he promptly chopped his right down to the jaw, but his glove just grazed the point and landed on. the neck. With the speed of
a serpent striking, that right again crashed just behind the ear as the
American was straightening up and, brushing aside counter blows, Darcy feinted with the left and staggered Smith.with another right to the head. Smth, close clung grimly to Darcy's right, at the same fine using his own right In kidney punches which infuriated the crowd but were disregarded by the referee. Smith scored repeatedly to the body
in the second, but his deadly left could never penetrate Darcy's splendid defence, and when the Australian himself
took a hand, the ease with which he scored prompted- many ringsiders to wonder whether the American was really trying.

DARCY'S TOUGHNESS

They were swiftly silenced when Smith swung a terrific right to the
chin with all his weight behind it. Like so many others before and after,Smith was amazed to find that, so far from checking Darcy's relentless advance, his heaviest punch bad the effect
only of spurring the youngster to fiercer efforts.
Smith was hard put to shield himself from the storm of blows that rained about his head, and won a respite only by trapping Darcy's flail-like right under his left arm and again hammering at the kidneys.
The third round was fought at hurricane speed. Smith drove his left to the chin with all his force, but Darcy slammed him around the ring. The American, superb in this extremity, rocked in punches, as he retreated, from I all angles, with a weight that gave
even the formidable Darcy momentary pause.
But the Australian tore in again, and a right that looked capable of felling an ox just missed the American's chin.
The fourth' round was marked by brilliant work on both sides, with the
honors slightly in Darcy's favor, a smashing left and right to the head causing Smith to sway like a poplar in a storm.

DRAMATIC FINISH

The fifth was as sensational as any could wish for. Smith missed with a left swing and took an answering smash on the left ear. Darcy was following up when the American drove his right
to the body, and to this day it is argued whether the blow was a foul.
Darcy doubled up In agony, and with hand pressed to the GROIN shambled to his comer, barely able to gasp out to his
chief second, Dave Smith, that he had been hit low. Dave Smith immediately claimed a foul, but referee Harold Baker, whose
vision of the incident had been obscured, ordered the two to fight on.
Darcy, still bewildered from the effects of the blow, slowly shuffled back to the centre of the ring, Jeff Smith sportingly making no attempt to take advantage of his adversary's unprotected attitude. Then, as a reminder that the fight was still on, he gently tapped Darcy, and the Australian replied with wild swing that missed its mark.
Jeff Smith still refrained from attack, and meanwhile Dave Smith was protesting to the managing director of the Sydney Stadium, Mr "Snowy" Baker, that he would throw in the towel. despite
all advice to the contrary, Dave Smith, after another brief talk with Darcy, carried out his threat

TOO HASTY

It was an UNWARRANTED action, Darcy, seen in his dressing room shortly afterwards, said that although at first he had felt giddy and sick, the paralysing pain gradually wore off and he could have continued. He expressed keen anxiety for an early return match
"I will surely beat Jeff Smith next time," he said fervently.
Asked whether Smith's rights to the jaw had hurt him at all, Darcy replied, "Not in the slightest. Only twice has a punch hurt me, the low one Jeff Smith landed, and one I got in the semi-final of my first tournament in Newcastle" {That reference was to his contest
with Harry Emery. In the second round of the semi-final Emery took such a right to the jaw that for a moment, as he was wont to declare afterwards, he thought he saw a dozen Darcys. In the fifth Emery returned the compliment to none such good purpose that Darcy frequently. remarked that never since had a punch had such an effect on him.] Jeff Smith, on his side, said he was certain it was a perfectly fair punch. He claimed that had he been capable of
deliberately fouling his man, surely he would have tried to take advantage of the other's helplessness. He, too, declared himself eager for another match as "the only way to settle it" That fight, when it eventually was staged, was to have an equally sudden
and dramatic ending, but Darcy had to wade through several other
doughty opponents before the Al-Lippe- Jeff Smith combination gave him the satisfaction he demanded.

 

I really am too flat out at the moment to look, but i will try to get some more for you some time in the next week or two.

I also found a really lengthy series on old fighters from the foley era when i was searching for these. It was one of the best series i have seen and when i do get the time, i will go through them one by one and try to post a link.

 

There was another interesting series in that archive. Kid McCoy's auto-bio as told to Thomas McMahon

part 1
1938-12-31 The Sporting Globe (page 7 )
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/20732950

other parts you can find yourself, using "next issue" button, the dates and the pages are:

1939-01-07 The Sporting Globe (page 8 )
1939-01-14 The Sporting Globe (page 8 )
1939-01-21 The Sporting Globe (page 8 )
1939-01-28 The Sporting Globe (pages 7, 8 )
1939-02-04 The Sporting Globe (page 8 )
1939-02-11 The Sporting Globe (pages 7, 8 )
1939-02-18 The Sporting Globe (page 8 )
1939-02-25 The Sporting Globe (page 8 )
1939-03-04 The Sporting Globe (page 8 )
1939-03-11 The Sporting Globe (page 8 )
1939-03-18 The Sporting Globe (pages 7, 8 )
1939-03-25 The Sporting Globe (page 7 )
1939-04-01 The Sporting Globe (page 7 )
1939-04-08 The Sporting Globe (page 7 )
1939-04-12 The Sporting Globe (page 9 )

 

Oh that's brilliant, I shall enjoy these, just hope someone has edited the text because I just found another of the Darcy series and it took me an hour and a half to edit the text so I could copy and paste it to my facebook boxing page. I have completed that long tricky task though and about to post it now.

Thanks again for your work Senya.

 

Darcy in the Ring-No. 12​

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As fast as Les Darcy skittled the American cracks
brought out to meet him, he could never keep pace
with the American sporting writers who, watching
his triumphant progress with jealous eye, became
even more exasperated at the temerity of this alien
in claiming the world's middleweight championship.
Dangling at his belt were the scalps of Jeff Smith,
Jimmy Clabby and Eddie McGoorty—to name only
a few of his famous victims from across the
Pacific. But now came the howl that he must,,
beat Mike Gibbons before he could dare to assume the title.
GIBBONS himself, significantly enough, preferred to
nurse whatever claims he might possess by remaining at
home, engaging in no-decision bouts
rather than follow his countrymen to the
big pickings - and big risks - offering in
Australia, No doubt he showed better
judgement than his Yankee press boosters
for in one of the few decision fights
he had risked he was licked by Jimmy
Clabby over 23 rounds.
Incidentally he had never engaged in a
20 three-minute rounder in his life
Whereas Darcy's whole career was made
up if these marathon battles, that is of
course so long as the other fellow could stand the racket.
This attitude of American writers
was, happily, as unrepresentative of
true American sportsmanship as it was
blatant, but the very injustice of it
quickened Darcy's longing to show the
fans overseas just what he could do.
In that ambition he was spurred by an offer of £500
for six months tour
of the United States. How the military ban meant
( EDITORS NOTE: the next two lines
are completely indecipherable)
Coming of K.O. Brown
Meanwhile, however, to divert his
attention from these worries, there had
arisen in his path the figure of the
Graeco - American. George Brown, whose
devastating punch had earned him the
sobriquet of the "Knock Out." and at
the same time l had assured him that he
was the Man of Destiny marked out to
stop the young Australian's onward march.
Like many another who had .sized
the champion from outside the ring.
Brown thought Darcy looked easy meat.
He had witnessed the frightful mauling
McGoortv had suffered, but lie reckoned
on his great reputation and undoubted
ability to succeed where the "Oshkosh
Terror ' had so signally failed.
And that he had sound reason for the;
good opinion he held of himself was
evident from the fact that shortly before
this he had put even with Jack Dillon.,
who was hailed—admittedly
in America —as "the best man in the game at any
weight with the possible exception of
Heavyweight champion Jess Willard." :
It was agreed that Darcv and Brown:e
should engage at catch weights. and
when they met on January 15. 1916 at
Sydney Stadium, the Australian, with
all his fighting gear on scaled 11.11
while the American completely stripped,
turned the beam at 11.12 1/2.
Comedv And Drama
The Knock-Out. as he shed his
dressing gown, was an awe-inspiring
spectacle with his mighty arms and
powerful torso, but he raised a laugh
by his manner of shaking hands. standing
weil av.ay and offering only the tip
of his fully extended left glove as
though fearful of a treachery
possibly he had once experienced in his
own country. But that he was no false alarm he
showed in Ihe opening round, when he
waded in with such grim purpose that
it looked that only Darcy's head on a
charger would satisfy his lust for blood. •
Darcy's wonderful defense —and how
superb it was he had only recently,
demonstrated against Clabby—was fully
taxed to avoid disaster from those pounding gloves,
but Inch-moving, ducking..
side-stepping and blocking, tha young.ster
kept ciear of danger, at the same time
slamming telling blows to his opponent's
head and body.
As the fight progressed, it quickly became
apparent that Darcy held the upper
hand, and out-boxing hls man practically
throughout, he amazed the American by
taking one or two of his heaviest punches
without turning a hair.
Fierce and stirring as was the battle
it had it's lighter moments. There was
a laugh at the ringside when Brown, who
after his first great onset had steadily
claimed Darcy's arms at every chance.
was heard to call out loudly in a clinch
"Now come away boy" The laugh rose
into a yell of delight when Darcy obligingly
breaking free smashed a stinging right to the jaw.
The bout ended on a note of comedy
Referee Arthur Scott failed to hear the
final bell and in the words of a contemporary fight reporter -
"A look of blank astonishment passed
over his face when Brown stepped forward
and congratulated Darcy on his performance.
"Scott waved his hands to bring the men
together brought a roar of laughter
from the spectators brought a smile of
understanding to his face and he placed
his hand on Darcy's head.
American's Tribute
But the story of that night is best
told by Brown himself, who described
his conqueror as "The best man in the world".
"I have no excuses for my defeat", he said.
"I was in perfect condition, never
better in my life but was beaten fairly
by a better man. Still nothing would
please me more than another meeting
with him at middleweight".
"Let me tell you this of Darcy: He is
the first man I have hit on the chin
without knocking him down. Instead, he
came at me harder than ever. He is a wonderful boy."
Somebody at this juncture spoke of the
heat generated by the electnc power
used for taking movies of the fight and
one of Brown's seconds murmured feelingly
that it was warmer out of the ring than in it
"Don't you believe it.'' Brown flashed back,
"I was in the ring you weren't.
I never felt warmer in my life, and it wasn't electric heat either,
Darcy was the disturbing element.Once when he
hit me I thought his hand had gone clean through my body"
HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
Denied the realisation of his fondest
dreams - a trip to America - Darcy had to
find what solace he could at home, and
his next engagement gave him another
crown - the heavyweight championship
of Australia. With the retirement of Dave Smith
early in 1915, the title was more or less in abeyance
until Harold Hardwick that great all-round
sportsman, and former amateur champion, won the
right to it by eliminating Les O'Donnell.
He readily agreed to risk his championship against Darcy,
and they met at Sydney on February 19, 1915
Darcy at 11.9 giving away 13lb. in weight.
Hardwick. a veritable young giant towered over his more
famous opponent, but he was outmatched. One claim
to fame however he was to enjoy before being knocked out in the
seventh round. They were against the ropes
toward the end of the third when Darcy missed with his right
and looking down at a friend at the ringside
grinned at his miscalculation. He paid dearly for his
carelessness, for Hardwick quick to
take advantage of the opening so foolishly left.
whipped two powerful right uppercuts to the mouth
that snapped off two of Darcy's perfect
front teeth It was the first time Darcy had
suffered any of the usual markings of his profession and to
add to his chagrin the bell immediately
robbed him of the chance of retaliation
He had to take what comfort he could from the fact
that in the seventh he thrice floored the giant with a
right chop to the jaw before the towel came in.
Darcy's next fight, on March 25 was
with Les O'Donnell who in the youngsters far off
tournament days in Newcastle had done so much
to boost the coming champion.
Little did O'Donnell realise then that
he was building such a formidable barrier
against his own cherished ambition
of one day becoming heavyweight champion
of Australia. But it was the fortune
of war. and although heavily punished
by his much smaller antagonist, the
Irish-Australian frequently dwelt thereafter
on the part. he had played in bringing
Australia's greatest champion to the fore.
O'Donnell. 6.0 in height, and weighing
12..1 1/2, soared over Darcy's 5.7 and
11.9 3 '4, but at no stage did lie look like
troubling the youngster.
In the seventh round, a terrific
right uppercut to the chin dropped
him for eight, and although he managed
to scramble to his feet, a right
to the jaw had him reeling so helplessly
across the ring that his seconds skied the towel.
Even at that he indignantly- wanted,
to fight on, until he was dragged forcibly
back to his corner.
With the downfall of these two local
heavyweights, it began to seem that
Darcy's only hope of another chance in
his homeland was against the old warhorse
Colin Bell. However. Dave Smith
even then was planning hits comeback,
and negotiations were m train for the
matching of former mentor and pupil
when "Knock Out" Brown once again
swept into the picture with claims of
a return bout that could not be denied.

 

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The "K.O. Again
since first meeting Darcy, he had
Fritz Holland a lacing over 20 rounds by virtue of that showing
he was allowed mother crack at the young champion on
April 8 at Rushcutters Bay.
'"They were scheduled 10 meet at 11.6
ringside, a poundage which the American
believed that Darcy could make only by weakening himself.
that first time. Brown reckoned he had
picked up some points on the handling
of Darcy by watching his fight with Hardwick.
"See if I don't trim him up this time", he
boasted, in announcing
his willingness to bark himself for £160.
As it happened, Darcy entered the
ring at 11.3, a shadow of his former
self. Brown. with all his talk of an 11.6 limit, scaled 11.10.
Just after his clash with O'Donnell,
Darcy had been called post haste, to
Maitland by news of the serious. illness
of his mother, and he had to train at
home for his return contest
with Brown. Too worried to eat or sleep
properly, his mind was far away in that
sickroom, when he climbed through the
ropes at Sydney Stadium, and scarcely
had the final bell sounded, leaving him
a winner then he was off for the Newcastle
boat to return to his mothers bedside
It was only in keeping
with the youngsters splendid spirit that the next day
should have seen the patient past the crisis.
DARCY'S DANGER
The fight itself was unique in that
Brown was to forfeit £25 if he were
Knocked off his feet with an added £15
if he took the count. There was also
a penalty if either indulged in undue clinching
The 15,000 spectators watched Darcy
anxiously in the opening round, realising
from his drop in weight that all
was not as it should be with him. And,
indeed, there was occasion for their
concern when it was seen that the
powerful and far heavier American
was having all the better of matters in
the first few exchanges.
Several heavy rights to the head
clearly staggered the Australian, but
Darcy was as skilled now in generalship
as in offence and defence, and
before the end of the round he was
showing all his old time wizardry.
in the second, he was within an a
0f upsetting the American, and collecting
part if not ail, the forfeit
money. Brown walked into a stiff
left, and reeling back was almost
off his balance but he recovered
before Darcy could seize the opening
Never thereafter did Brown look like
losing his feet, but he certainly often
lost his head when Darcy, coolly stepping
inside heavy swings, smashed left
and right to body and head.
Darcy had built up a big margin of
points when in the 13th, a weighty
right to the jaw made him sag at the knees,
In his weakened condition. it was a marvel that
he kept Ins feet, but never was his fighting Instinct more
evidence, never was he seen to better advantage us a master of the art of self-defence. The blow had sapped, but. not
drained his strength, and while he gradually shook off its effects. he gave
such a dazzling exhibition of boxing as Sydney had rarely seen It proved
to be the Americans one bid for supremacy and Darcy by this second clear cut victory over the doughty "Knock Out" Brown. once again proved the unassailable right to the world's middleweight title.
(Next story: "Snowy Baker's
challenge to America.)

 

I am way too tired to go and edit this article now so I will just post the link, it contains Darcy fight Demlin and Jeff Smith in their second fight. It is rather eye opening... btw if anyone here can get me any of the court reports about Jeff Smith's court battle to get h=the money owed to him by Stadiums ltd please post them. I have a friend who dearly wants to see those and I want to read them as well.
here is the article http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189133610/20614397

 

To those who think i am a biased type well here is a report condemning one of my heroes and putting him in a bad light... he is the great trainer who taught Young Griffo, Bob Fitzsimmons and Peter Jackson... Larry Foley seems to have gotten away with this... read on http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189133126

 

Lol

 

LOL and LOL but I am not biased and you really blew your cover didn't you, now facebook buzzes LOL

 

How could anyone possibly arrive at that conclusion Greg?:huh

 

Ahh shut up and have a read of this... Report on Henry Armstrong's first Welter Title Defense from 1939... enjoy. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189137392/20735179

 

Darcy in the Ring-No. 7
SMITH CAUGHT FOUL
in RETURN
CONTEST
His first crack at what was virtually the middleweight
championship of the world having resulted so unsatisfactorily,
Les Darcy was straining at the leash for his revenge
against Jeff Smith. But the latter's astute trainer, Al
Lippe, had one other fish to fry,
Contending that his charge had beaten Darcy even without
Dave Smith skying the towel when his claims of a foul were
ignored, Lippe was anxious to match another of his team.
This was Frank Loughrey, whom he firmly believed was
capable of stopping the young Australian's onward march.
But Lippe was ever sadly astray in his summing up of Darcy.
LOUGHREY, like all Americans,knew how to punch, and it was
fondly hoped that Darcy, even with the polish acquired from Dave
Smith would be aggressive forcing lay himself open to the smashing blows that few had been able to withstand.
But the tacticians usually left out of their reckoning one mighty factor that Invariably swept their most inglorious
theories into the dustbin. They forgotthat Darcy, too, had the kick of a mule in either hand. It was a sadly disillusioned Loughrey
who left the ling after 20 rounds with Darcy on the night of February 27. 1915.
It was only on sufferance that he had been allowed to see the journey through, the weights were announced as Darcy
11.3 and Loughrey 10.914. and. adopting his invariable practice with a lighter opponent. the Australian never at any time let himself go. But so thorough was the beating he administered that the American was afterwards said never to have been the same man again.
Whatever the rest of the Al. Lippe stable thought of the Australian champion, Loughrey at least was no longer under any delusion, and he was generous in his tributes to the boy who was the first ever to make him break ground.
HOLLAND'S TRIBUTE
More than 13.000 people saw that clash, but still Darcy sued in vain for a return with Jeff Smith. He was given the consolation, however, of wiping off his two defeats by Fritz Holland.He met the veteran for the third lime at Sydney Stadium on March 13, 1915,
and there was never any doubt of the issue. Holland, with all his ringcraft and clever as he was on his feet, could not keep the young Australian out, and Darcy, content to take a punch for the
sake of delivering a heavier one, ran out an easy winner on points.
What a difference from the boy whom Holland first fought on July 18, 1914! As Darcy said cheerfully subsequently in discussing his three meetings with Holland, he had gone into the ring on the first occasion scarcely knowing what was going to happen, but fully expecting a hiding. "If I got one, I certainly didn't feel it," he added naively. Of their second clash his most poignant regret was his accidental foul in the18th, not because it cost him the decision, but because of the fear that he might have lost caste with fight followers.
His third engagement he had welcomed as a means of redeeming himself, and how well he succeeded is best vouched for by Holland himself. "Well, I guess you people in Australia," said the American, "think you have a good fighter in Darcy. Let me tell you he Is ten times better than you think he is, and the only way to find out Is to get in front of him In the ring. I don't know the legitimate middle-weight in the world he would not beat." It was by now becoming a lucrative business proposition to challenge Darcy, accepting an inevitable hiding for the sake of a cut of the big gate money.
For Darcy could draw the crowds as could no other boxer in those first few hectic months of the war. Henri Demlin, a Belgian, was the next to be seized with this great idea, and although he lasted only five rounds he netted a handsome return for his enterprise
On April 3. 1915. Darcy scaled 11.3/4 against Demlin's 10.81/2 and again the Australian showed his readiness to carry his smaller opponent. In the first round, however, Demlin ran into a left swing that floored him, and thereafter in the hands of the scientific Australian he was merely a punching bag. In the fifth round he was in such sore straits against the ropes that the referee intervened to save him further punishment, just as the Belgian's second hopped through the ropes m token of surrender.
MELBOURNE DEBUT
ALL this time Melbourne fans were clamoring to see the wonder boy from the north, and they were accommodated on May 1, 1915. Again was Holland selected as the medium for enabling Darcy to show his wares, but, as it turned out, it was not an altogether
wise choice. Holland, in his first three encounters with Darcy, had learned enough to refrain from mixing matters with this devastating puncher, and for 12 rounds he did his best to box at long range, determined that he would not be butchered to make a Melbourne holiday. Even a Darcy could hardly make a fight of such a one-sided .arrangement, and the huge crowd, remembering Holland's brilliance against McCormick on an earlier visit to the southern capital, became restive after the first three rounds, twice towards the end counting the boxers out. It was a new experience for Darcy to be exhorted to "go in and fight." In the 13th the Australian got his with a left to the body and a right to the jaw, and Holland went down. Slowly he regained his feet, but meanwhile his seconds threw in the towel. The referee, however, apparently believing
that the blow had not been serious enough to Justify the ringing
down of the curtain, ordered the two to fight on. Holland, as the man who had received the punch, evidently took the stand that
he was the best judge of whether it was serious or not and retired lo his corner, whereupon the referee indicated Darcy as the winner. Holland had to receive attention for some minutes before he could
leave the ring.
VENGEANCE
HE way was now clear for the consumation of Darcy's great ambition — the exacting of vengeance for the technical knock-out recorded by Jeff Smith with what Darcy claimed was a foul blow. They met in that momentous. return contest on May 22, 1913, 12,000 people crowding into the Sydney Stadium to see what was widely billed as the middleweight championship of the world.Darcy, at 11.5 1/2, was the lighter by four ounces. There was a grim set to Darcy's jaw that presaged a torrid time for American, and from the opening exchange of hostilities it seemed that Smith would pay dearly for that first unsatisfactory victory.
Smashing through the other's guard Darcy scored with both hands to the head, and then, lightly stepping back a pace, staggered the American as he came in with a terrific short right that just missed the angle of the jaw and landed on the ear. Darcy again led his left, but Smith ducked and shot in a low right uppercut to the body that to all intents and purposes was a replica of the one which so unhappily terminated their first encounter. But there was this vital difference that on this occasion referee Harald Baker saw the incident and severely cautioned the transgressor. Darcy had winced with the pain of the blow, but he quickly recovered, and
rained punches to the head that had the American hanging on desperately. Once Smith drove a hard right to the solar plexus that would have won many a fight, but on Darcy it had no effect, and
even thus early it seemed that only a miracle could save the American from a knock-out But it was not a miracle that saved him.
OUT FOR A FOUL
DARCY battered his man with Iefts and rights in the second term until the harassed American, leaping back, ducked a right and swung his left flush to Darcy's groin. There were few at the ringside who were not convinced that the blow was deliberate foul, designed to save the American from the ignominy of an early
knock-out and when the referee promptly disqualified the offender there was a roar of approval that was taken up in all parts of the house. Neither Darcy nor his corner, it may be stated, had lodged any protest against the blow, the Australian being too keen on a clear-cut victory to want anything of the "win, tie or wrangle" order. As he had once observed, "I want always to win or lose fairly and squarely." But Smith's offence was too palpable to be lightly glossed over, especially coming so soon after a severe caution.
A curious feature of the whole affair was the calmness with which the American and his seconds accepted the referee's decision. . Had they believed themselves genuinely aggrieved, one would have expected some show of excitement. But the only comment offered was a wild remark by Al Lippe that, as Darcy had neither been hurt nor claimed a foul, Harald Baker was somewhat impulsive in taking such a drastic step.
COURT APPEAL FAILS
HOW tenable was that charge of 'over-impulsiveness' was later demonstrated when the directors of Stadiums Ltd., after the closest consideration of the whole affair. declared their conviction that Smith tod been guilty of a deliberate foul, which, according to a
clause tn the articles of agreement, made the offender liable to disqualification for life. They confirmed the disqualification imposed by their referee. By virtue of another clause in the agreement, the loser was refused his percentage of the takings which was handed instead to a patriotic fund. Although the Smith party took this question of the stake money to the Supreme Court, the jury decided against them. The greatest pity about the whole sorry
business was that Darcy had been denied the chance of proving his unquestioned superiority by a convincing knock-out. He had wrested Smith's middleweight title from him but in a manner that
made of it, for him, only a barren honor. But one thing Darcy had done was to atone for all defeats that had ever been registered against him, and thereafter his ring career was to be one series of scintillating victories.

 

Good article that wonders why Les Darcy is not the real world champion and that no one else has a real claim and explains why Mike Gibbons not considered. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117551317/13119099

Seriously there was no other true claimant.