Computer Tournament - The Middleweights

[Greatest1942]

Wow man, where did you find that !!!!!!.... I have read only shorter reports on that second fight..... It backs up what I said, AND THEN SOME.... It really looks like the referee stopping the fight, reading between the lines, it seems that Darcy ,ay have had a look of pure murder on his face, I think Smith was saved from a far worse fate than a D.Q. loss. What a great report, you get a realistic look at Darcy in a grudge fight, not the smiling and laughing bloke we read about, I don't think he stepped into that ring with any thoughts of mercy on his mind. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That McGoorty "Victory" over Smith was by what I have heard, a total Smith victory, the Sydney crowd was rowdy but fair. One fellow I have not mentioned was Snowy Bakers Brother, Harold Baker who was the main referee at the stadium. Harold seems like a bit of a shady character, Ray Swanwick described Harold as a notorious Referee and who was a part of many su****ious results in those days...... You might want to look into the baker brothers a bit, but I will say this about Snowy and McIntosh and their Boxing business. They were admired by American Promoters and managers for having what some of them said was the best model for the sport, they said that control at the top was far better than the American scene at the time where the managers and fighters did what they pleased and the result was chaos, which makes our job that much harder.

The Smith - Mcgoorty fight was a definite win for Smith...

I think it made Smith bitter against the bakers.

[McGoorty]

The Smith - Mcgoorty fight was a definite win for Smith...

I think it made Smith bitter against the bakers.

Yeah, Smith has his version and the Baker's never wavered from theirs, I will mention that this was an era that was noted for every type of foul imaginable, but Smith seems to get mentioned as a very dirty fighter by a lot of people. I will say this about the referee's in that era that they awarded many DQ victories to the men squirming on the floor... nowadays we see fouls and referee's seem not to notice many fouls (the ghost of Harald Baker ???)...... and you see the committer of the foul getting the victory..... and you don't see police sergeants jumping into the ring to stop fights anymore either.

[Greatest1942]

Yeah, Smith has his version and the Baker's never wavered from theirs, I will mention that this was an era that was noted for every type of foul imaginable, but Smith seems to get mentioned as a very dirty fighter by a lot of people. I will say this about the referee's in that era that they awarded many DQ victories to the men squirming on the floor... nowadays we see fouls and referee's seem not to notice many fouls (the ghost of Harald Baker ???)...... and you see the committer of the foul getting the victory..... and you don't see police sergeants jumping into the ring to stop fights anymore either.

Smith might have been dirty , but he was a good fighter, beat soem good names and was very capable...even in the first bout against darcy he was winning.

By the by , I forgot to tell you something, all though the Americans called Darcy a slacker the calls for his blood had started from his mother land...teh Americans actually acted lately...

I wonder if you read this :-

"Owing to Les Darcy's unpatriotic actions in clearing out of his country at a time when he should be doing his little bit along with his Australian comrades, it has been decided to strip him of his middleweight and heavyweight titles."



"For the fellow who bolts in a dreadful funk when he begins to deem it possible that his duty may be thrust upon him, there can be nothing but disgust and scorn"--Sunday Times, November, 1916


"The majority said in their hearts, you're a shirker, Les Darcy, and we thought you a real man."----Sydney People


These kind of articles coupled with Darcy's perceived evasion (which was unjust most likely) soured the American people on Darcy

[Greatest1942]

After Darcy's death. the Sydney Truth published a letter from one exasperated reader: “Really.to hear people speak, you would think Les Darcy was THE ONLY SINGLEMAN who did not go, and had he gone would have been able to do the fighting
on his own.”


The first anti darcy article of some real consequence occured when the New York Tribune, took a very strong stand on Darcy’s presence in the
United States. and reprinted articles from the Australian Sunday Times
and The Referee....Note it was actually reprinted....

Fact is there was more malign interests against Darcy at Australia, during his stay in America only tow newspapers stood up for him, only two of the whole lot...the rest vilified him...One of them the Sydney Sprotsman wrote "While these denouncers of Darcy continue affirming that they are solely disgusted because Darcy did not enlist, it appears to us that they are more concerned because he did not stay in Sydney, and continue to be a meal ticket for the squealers and their friends.Not content with spitting their spleen locally, they cabled and wrote to America, where the **********d pens of a pliant press were only too ready to ‘yellow-journal’ the foreigner. Darcy.”
...but I will note that when ones motherland vilifies you, its hard for the other land to not believe it.

“With the splendid heroism of our
stal***** shining as a constant glory at the front, it is somehow sadly ludicrous to make heroes of professional boxers who prefer to evade the risks of war..........“For days it lay in a sort of state in a city undertaker’s establishment, and people of all sorts flocked in their tens of thousands to see it.Before it was buried priests of Christ pronounced a panegyric above it. Had some passing stranger heard the things said he might easily have supposed that here lay dead some strong smiter of the oppressor, some heroic saviour of the people.”----Sunday Times after Darcy's funeral....


"Whitman"

Actually Whitman was not bad, he was honest and seems to have liked Darcy...

To go by a quote of Mick Hawkins , "The Governor said: I'm sorry for you, boy, but there's a guy named Mclntosh who must have a big pull back in Australia. I just can't allow you to fight.' He seemed a straight shooter."

Though the Whitman act on paper was worse.

"Darcy- O Sullivan"

"I wish to contradict the stories sent out by Mr E. T. O'Sullivan regarding our split. Had he acted fairly in the matter he would still be with me as trainer and pal.

"He states that he had a contract signed with me calling for a third of my earnings, and in another paper says the contract called for 25 per cent of my earnings.

"In one paper, he states the contract was lost on board the ship, and in another he says I tore it up. We had no agreement of any kind saying I was to give him any percentage of my earnings.

"We left old Australia seeking our fortune together, and O'Sullivan well knew that if he did right with me he would be well taken care of. When I refused to give O'Sullivan his demands the other day, his parting tip to me was that he would make me wish I was back in Australia, the way he would roast me in the papers."--Les Darcy

[McGoorty]

After Darcy's death. the Sydney Truth published a letter from one exasperated reader: “Really.to hear people speak, you would think Les Darcy was THE ONLY SINGLEMAN who did not go, and had he gone would have been able to do the fighting
on his own.”


The first anti darcy article of some real consequence occured when the New York Tribune, took a very strong stand on Darcy’s presence in the
United States. and reprinted articles from the Australian Sunday Times
and The Referee....Note it was actually reprinted....

Fact is there was more malign interests against Darcy at Australia, during his stay in America only tow newspapers stood up for him, only two of the whole lot...the rest vilified him...One of them the Sydney Sprotsman wrote "While these denouncers of Darcy continue affirming that they are solely disgusted because Darcy did not enlist, it appears to us that they are more concerned because he did not stay in Sydney, and continue to be a meal ticket for the squealers and their friends.Not content with spitting their spleen locally, they cabled and wrote to America, where the **********d pens of a pliant press were only too ready to ‘yellow-journal’ the foreigner. Darcy.”
...but I will note that when ones motherland vilifies you, its hard for the other land to not believe it.

“With the splendid heroism of our
stal***** shining as a constant glory at the front, it is somehow sadly ludicrous to make heroes of professional boxers who prefer to evade the risks of war..........“For days it lay in a sort of state in a city undertaker’s establishment, and people of all sorts flocked in their tens of thousands to see it.Before it was buried priests of Christ pronounced a panegyric above it. Had some passing stranger heard the things said he might easily have supposed that here lay dead some strong smiter of the oppressor, some heroic saviour of the people.”----Sunday Times after Darcy's funeral....


"Whitman"

Actually Whitman was not bad, he was honest and seems to have liked Darcy...

To go by a quote of Mick Hawkins , "The Governor said: I'm sorry for you, boy, but there's a guy named Mclntosh who must have a big pull back in Australia. I just can't allow you to fight.' He seemed a straight shooter."

Though the Whitman act on paper was worse.

"Darcy- O Sullivan"

"I wish to contradict the stories sent out by Mr E. T. O'Sullivan regarding our split. Had he acted fairly in the matter he would still be with me as trainer and pal.

"He states that he had a contract signed with me calling for a third of my earnings, and in another paper says the contract called for 25 per cent of my earnings.

"In one paper, he states the contract was lost on board the ship, and in another he says I tore it up. We had no agreement of any kind saying I was to give him any percentage of my earnings.

"We left old Australia seeking our fortune together, and O'Sullivan well knew that if he did right with me he would be well taken care of. When I refused to give O'Sullivan his demands the other day, his parting tip to me was that he would make me wish I was back in Australia, the way he would roast me in the papers."--Les Darcy

Yeah, I've always blamed Baker and McIntosh for starting the smear campaign, they found many willing helpers among the big boys in government. The loss of Darcy to the U.S. was a disaster for them and I think they wanted to force him back. The war was a long one for Australia and war fever (no longer enthusiastic and just wanting the nightmare over. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- O'Sullivan is very shady, he came on to the scene from nowhere, maybe a con man because nobody had heard of him, next thing he's hobnobbing with the likes of Rickard, Curley and Dime. What happened between Les and him can never be fully understood. O'Sullivan wrote a letter to the papers many years later trying to clear his name, but nobody seemed to care, he'd been forgotten.