Name: James Leslie (Les) Darcy
Born: 31 October 1895, Maitland, Australia
Died: 24 May 1917 Memphis, USA aged 21
Career: 1910 to 1916
Record: 50 fights, 46 wins (29 by KO/TKO) 4 losses (0 by KO/TKO), 0 draws
Division: Lightweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, Heavyweight,
Stance: Orthodox
Titles: World middleweight champion (Australian version). Commonwealth middleweight, Australian middleweight, Australian heavyweight
Major Contests
Scored wins over: Billy Hannan, Jeff Smith** ,Mick King**, Eddie McGoorty (twice)**, Billy Murray (twice), Fred Dyer, Jimmy Clabby (twice)**, Buck Crouse, Dave Smith (twice), George Chip **.
Lost against: Bob Whitelaw, Fritz Holland (twice), Jeff Smith,
**Past/ future holder of a version of a world title
* Unsuccessful challenger for a version of a world title
Les Darcy’s Story
Darcy was born in Maitland, Australia on 31 October 1895 and died in the Memphis, USA at just 21-years-of age. His career spanned only six years and 50 fights, all in Australia, but his achievements had earned him the nicknames of The Maitland Wonder and the Golden Boy. He was one of 10 children of an Irish Catholic family and left school at the age of 12 and became a blacksmith’s apprentice. That work helped him build strength and he soon began to test himself by taking part in local bare knuckle fights. His first recorded fights took place in 1910 when he was 15 and he weighed around 126 lbs. He won a couple of local competitions and progressed from four round bouts to 20 two-minute rounds. He had his first recorded fight in 1910 at the age of 15. He then ran up 17 wins and in November 1913 at the age of 18 lost on point to Bob Whitelaw in a challenge for the Australian welterweight title-a fight in which Darcy injured both hands. He knocked out Whitelaw in a non-title fight in March 2014 but in July he lost on points over 20 rounds against American Fritz Holland and two months later was disqualified in the second round in a return fight with Holland.
In January 1915 he challenged experienced American Jeff Smith for the World middleweight title. It was Smith’s fiftieth fight and Smith would go on to fight champions Gerne Tunney and Mike McTigue and register wins over Tommy Loughran and Harry Greb. Darcy’s second complained about a low punch in the fifth round of the Smith fight and refused to let his man continue and the referee disqualified Darcy. That was the last fight Darcy lost.
From there it was success all the way for Darcy as he put together a run of 14 wins. He beat Smith in a return flight for the Australind version of the world title and defended that world title nine times. He also won the British Empire/Commonwealth and Australian middleweight titles and, although he was just 5’6” tall and never weighed more than 165 lbs, the Australian heavyweight title.
That run of success made Darcy the best-known sportsman in Australia and he had built a huge following. He had knocked out former world champion George Chip in September 1916 just three months after Chip had won a newspaper decision over Harry Greb. In his winning streak he had scored wins over Smith, Eddie McGoorty, Jimmy Clabby and Mick King all of whom had claimed a version of the world middleweight title but after the Chip win in September 2016 Darcy would never fight again.
The Australian government was carrying out a recruitment drive to support the Allies fighting in World War 1 and it considered that if Darcy was to volunteer that would give the process a huge boost. Darcy was reluctant to enlist as he was in the verge of a lucrative tour of America and wins there would strengthen his claim to recognized as full champion. There was heavy pressure on Darcy to enlist and he did so. However, his mother asserted that as he was not yet 21 he was a “minor” and his mother’s permission was required to authorize his enlistment and his mother refused. A referendum to exclude the need for a mother’s permission was imminent and the Government refused permission for Darcy to leave the country but Darcy slipped away from Australia by stowing on a tanker the S.S. Cuishing and sailing to America.
That act saw him crucified by the Australian press and labelled a coward for avoiding enlistment effectively destroying his popularity. When he reached America, he did so under a cloud for his actions in avoiding military service. No American promoter would work with him and he was unable to get any fights. He did some work in vaudeville and then decided to take American citizenship in the hope that would make it possible to get some fights. A promoter tried to get Darcy a fight in Memphis for 7 May 1917 and the Mayor of Memphis agreed provided Darcy enlisted in the US Armed Forces. Darcy enlisted and started training for the 7 May fight. He collapsed during training on 27 April and it was discovered that he had infected tonsils which were causing other problems. His tonsils were removed but he contracted pneumonia and died on 25 May at the age of 21.
It was decided he should be buried in Australia and his body was shipped to Sydney. Time had passed and the newspapers that had vilified him in 1916 now again lauded him as a national sporting hero and huge crowds turned out to see his coffin transported to Maitland. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.