How good could Les Darcy have been?

[Barn]

Darcy was never seen in an American ring but, judging from his wonderful performances in Austrailia against excellent American talent and if he had not died there is no telling how far he would have gone.

Your thoughts?

[0Rooster4Life0]

He would have been one of the best.

sadly Australia gave him a hard time then when he went to the US they gave him a tough time too.

He had a ton of skill and power to match, There were also a lot of talk of him fighting Jess Willard. Jack Dempsey was quoted to have said "If Les Darcy had fought Jess Willard He Would have Done what i Done"



Big statement since Darcy was a Middleweight.

I have read Books on Darcy visited his hometown (only 2hour drive from me) Visited his grave and Statue and i must say i hold him in very high regards, and from everyone who knew him, From American Fighters to Aussie trainers, Les was a superstar in the making.






Sad he died so young, He is one of my favs.

[Barn]

He would have been one of the best.

sadly Australia gave him a hard time then when he went to the US they gave him a tough time too.

He had a ton of skill and power to match, There were also a lot of talk of him fighting Jess Willard. Jack Dempsey was quoted to have said "If Les Darcy had fought Jess Willard He Would have Done what i Done"



Big statement since Darcy was a Middleweight.

I have read Books on Darcy visited his hometown (only 2hour drive from me) Visited his grave and Statue and i must say i hold him in very high regards, and from everyone who knew him, From American Fighters to Aussie trainers, Les was a superstar in the making.






Sad he died so young, He is one of my favs.

Do you think he is the greatest Aussie? Dave Sands or Les Darcy or Yound Peter Jackson? Shame we didn't get to see the full career of both Sands and Darcy but, based of their potential and Young Peter Jacksons already apparent greatness who do you think is the greatest?

[0Rooster4Life0]

If he had not died...Les,

in my opinion his the best we have produced , We have had some Great fighters, Dave Sands,Rose, Barns etc


But Les just stands out to me, he was an amazing fighter with a ton of Potential that was never shown, He went to America to take on the best, and i think he would have beat them. He was just a young kid but was still more successful then most of our best.

"He had three arms, possibly four. He hit you with one jawbreaker, had another waiting four inches behind it, and a third on the way."

Dave Depena - American Fighter

[NChristo]

Do you think he is the greatest Aussie? Dave Sands or Les Darcy or ted Kid Lewis? Shame we didn't get to see the full career of both Sands and Darcy but, based of their potential and Young Peter Jacksons already apparent greatness who do you think is the greatest?

Kid Lewis was English ^^.

[Barn]

Kid Lewis was English ^^.

Oops that was meant to YPJ, they both have 3 letter names.

[McGoorty]

He would have been one of the best.

sadly Australia gave him a hard time then when he went to the US they gave him a tough time too.

He had a ton of skill and power to match, There were also a lot of talk of him fighting Jess Willard. Jack Dempsey was quoted to have said "If Les Darcy had fought Jess Willard He Would have Done what i Done"



Big statement since Darcy was a Middleweight.

I have read Books on Darcy visited his hometown (only 2hour drive from me) Visited his grave and Statue and i must say i hold him in very high regards, and from everyone who knew him, From American Fighters to Aussie trainers, Les was a superstar in the making.






Sad he died so young, He is one of my favs.

Yep my favorite fighter of them all I do think Darcy was real chance against the underrated Willard, he was certainly Jess's main threat and Willard did seem to duck Les and certainly cancelled the agreement but I'll bet he was threatened by some very important people who had the power to ruin him ( and they would have ). Les did have a fight with the similar sized giant Fred Fulton (but it wasn't official) in front of bigwigs only in a NY gym and Fulton was totally humiliated and quit at the end of the 2nd, those who were there like Rickard and Doc Kearns that had seen his last fights said that the improvement in that gap of about 6 months or so in Darcy was incredible, as if he was virtually unbeatable, we've seen a 20 and few months old Darcy, Apparently the 21 version had jumped into another level, he was about to fight big name LHW Jack Dillon in Memphis a couple of months later ( he died the day before the fight ). A word on Fulton, Dempsey said that Darcy doing that to Fulton was proof that Darcy was the best MW and LHW then and he said that Fred was the real deal and noted that Fred beat Langford. Anybody denying Darcy ATG status or his right to be in the Hall of Fames just don't know what they are talking about. It is a fact that Les Darcy is a Hall of Famer, always has been as far as I know, he was put in there at the beginning of H.O.Fame way back when. I have a Thread about Darcy,.... Harry Greb Vs Les Darcy the Trilogy if anybody wants to know, plug

[McGoorty]

Do you think he is the greatest Aussie? Dave Sands or Les Darcy or Yound Peter Jackson? Shame we didn't get to see the full career of both Sands and Darcy but, based of their potential and Young Peter Jacksons already apparent greatness who do you think is the greatest?

I have to say Darcy, he was a freak of nature. Here are quotes made after some of Darcy's fights from Interviews. -- FRITZ HOLLAND --"The furious rushes of this boy, for such he was, impressed me, I had never experienced such intensity of purpose as I did with this unknown". ( after Darcy's 1st big time fight, Holland won on points )............................... Holland again-"I felt that he would wear himself out after 5 rounds, but after 20 of the hardest I had ever fought, he was after 20 minutes rest in his dressing room, as fresh as you could wish. While his men were working on his face where I had landed some first rate blows, he sat on his rubbing table joking with supporters, and eating a pear".................................................. ............................................ ----------------- Henri KO Marchand said, "fighting Darcy is like fighting a gorilla, he is terribly strong, made of iron, he could beat any middleweight in the world, and he could even beat Carpentier". -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------After 20 tough rounds, and losing, Gus Christie told Les, "well Les, you are no doubt a wonderful fighter, but say, was it not an almighty great struggle we had in there", now that's a real fighter, after taking a beating Gus Christie was ecstatic, boxers!!-------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- Ex champion, Mick King, after his fight with Darcy said, "He is wonderful, I never thought it possible for a man to possess such strength, endurance and speed".-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- During his first fight with Darcy, Eddie McGoorty told his corner after landing his famous 'corkscrew' left hook, "I hooked him good and hard, and he just grinned". He was told "Do it again".--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------After the fight McGoorty said to Will Lawless, "That boy's the best fighter I ever fought, he's the greatest fighter in the world, he's hard to hit and even harder still to hurt, I don't think there's anyone in the world can beat him".------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fritz Holland saw the fight, and said, "Les Darcy is the best man in the world, I bar no none, not even Jess Willard { WHWC }. the man who can take Eddie McGoorty's left swing to the jaw without flinching would not be hurt by anyone".-------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Billy Murray, after his second fight with Darcy said, "Darcy is the greatest boxer of any weight in the world, he might lose a ten round bout in America but in a match to the finish {20rds}, no man living, Middleweight or Heavyweight-could defeat him, he is so abnormally strong and such a tremendous puncher".----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------After being Ko'd by Darcy, Rumanian champion Alex Costica said, "I go by boat now, (Buck) Crouse he soon follow, Darcy knock him out quick, You see".--- I like that one.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------All these are quoted verbatim, I put these in here just in case anybody thinks I may exaggerate any claims about the GREAT DARCY, I thought I'd let the true experts, the fighters themselves, speak for me.