Les Darcy

James Leslie " Les " Darcy ( born October 31, 1895 in Stradbroke, New South Wales, † May 24, 1917 in Memphis, Tennessee) was an Australian boxer.

Life

One of eight children of an ethnic Irish peasant, he left 12 - year school and worked as an assistant to a blacksmith, where he built up strong muscles. Already at the age of 18 was the devout teetotaler Darcy the sensation in the main arena of Sydney, where he was first the Americans Fritz Holland twice defeated controversial. Overall, he lost four of his fights, but never went KO.

With good power and great condition he beat the Americans Eddie McGoorty, Billy Murray, Jimmy Clabby, George Chip, George " KO" Brown and Buck Crouse and defeated Smith and Holland in fighting back prematurely.

He called himself after a streak of 22 fights 1916 " world middleweight champion " when that was largely ignored outside his home country. In 1916 he was also heavyweight champion of Australia by KO against Harold Hardwick.

In patriotic questions ambivalent, he wanted to join the army in 1916. His mother refused to consent, which would have been necessary because he was younger than 21 years. He then oriented towards professional careers in the U.S., where he secretly emigrated without permission to leave.

In the U.S., waiting for him many problems. For one, he was pursued by Australian media that was against him accusing him desertion and the mood in the U.S., so he got among other things, a prohibition of the Governor of New York no big fights. Then by an inflamed tooth he got blood poisoning and died at the age of 21 years. However, it is believed that the cause of death was ultimately pneumonia.

Shortly before his death he had become a U.S. citizen and joined the army there. When he was buried in Sydney, but hundreds of thousands attended his funeral.

In 1993 Darcy induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.