LES DARCY; Newspaper Reports And LINKS

[McGoorty]

Asked. how ..Darcy would : cern- .
. pare with Mike Gibbons, Crouse
said: "Even at the 12st. limit I -
would; stake my last dollar on
. . Darcy; ' Great, and all 'á» Gib-
bons is, I can't,see,him having a
-chance with Darcy at 11.6." Darcy
is Ute daddy of them-all."
; , Dave Smith, former ' heavyweight
champion of Australia, and-until re-
cently ' Darcy's mentor at «a , critical
period in the youngster's career, was
Ut this -time staging his great come-
back. On June '10, weighing only
il.iV he 'set ithe seal to-his j-eturii to
the ritig'.byiknocking out'Colin Bell,
13:112, in the 14th round iof Bell's
first Sght. since his trip, abroad.
On Jurie '24, 'at Sydney Stadium.
Smith was, matched with,Darcy for
the Australian.heavyweight,title. It
was , a striking commentary on the
ability of the'big men of the day that
Darcy barely .made the middleweight
limit- of- 11.6/ while Smith; waa only211b." heavier. Í. ;.
Fourteen ^thousand'. fight fans rolled
up' to see^the 'clashj'of ^these great
champions: ' -tTheir/liast' association
lent anaddedipice.to .this meeting, and
students .of /ring^lore,'recalling how
the mighty'Jem: Belcher inthe bygone
days-of the prize ring, had-gone-down
before'his former, pupil, ? Hen. '»Pearce,
"The Game .Chicken,", wondered if his
tory ¡would- repeat itself. .'It did, but
actually, there was no parellel.
? Belphèr had lost the sight of ono
eye when struck by a ball at rackets,
and 'although the perfectly normal
appearance of the damaged optic as-
sisted - him in keeping his dire cal-
amity a secret. Pearce soon sensed
his ; rival's terrible affliction. Such
deadly, use did he make of, his know-
ledge that, gradually but surely, the
proud head,"of the old champion was
humbled to "the dust.There was none of the bitter atmos.
phere of that far-off drama, of the
ring about its Australian counterpart.
Dave-Smith probably had never been
in finer'form, and his speed, before
Darcy's weighty punches slowed him
down, was a marked feature of a not-
able battle. Darcy afterwards admit-
ted in his dressing-room that it-was
the fastest contest of his career.
Pupil Now Master
SPEEDY as Darcy had become under
« the ? tuition ' of this . same . Dave
-Smith, he-found himself in the early
rounds ; repeatedly beaten to the
punch. The ex-champion exploited a
driving left :to the face such as only
a few, weeks before" had sent Colin
Bell staggering across the ring. Darcy
took -.them- all «with a grin, and kept
boving.in.. ' .;r : i
But Smith was equally brilliant iii
defence, and dazzling headwerk or
deft movements of the forearms nulli-
fied many- a forceful attack. At in-
fighting, too, he hehl his, own, but

[McGoorty]

Darcy -was not to; be denied, and
heavy swines" to the body with either
hand steadily took their-toll. -Several
times Smith ..was .driven around,, the
ring, and the seventh round saw the
beginning of the end.
Smith missed with a right, and in a
flash Darcy crashed his own right to
the head. Smith staggered and strove
desperately to claim Darcy's* hámme'ft.
ing gloves. All.his,fine defence waa
called on to see him through the
eighth, but he suffered severely in the
next, and although he rallied to make
a ding-dong go of the 10th, Darcy
was definitely on top.
Smith came out a tired man in the
tlth, but it.was obvious that Darcy
I was unwilling to punish his old tutor,
and he allowed him:to clinch his way
through to the bell.
But so weak and weary , was Smith
that- a straight, left nearly toppled
him in the 12th. and a. second left
tumbled him heavily, to the canvasHe wss up immediately, but a
right to the chin steadied him,
and two more in quick succession
, dropped him for the count. As
he crashed down Darcy caught
him with one arm and broke his
fall.
Although he had to be carried back
to his comei', the old champion's
fighting spirit was still strong,. and
he struggled with Ids seconds in an
effort to get back into the middle of
the ring.
The pupil , was now mastav.
Smith And CrouseALTHOUGH knocked out. Dave
. Smith, by his-splendid showing,
had definitely re-established himself
as ii .fighting force, and there 1X1X6
tremendous interest in his meeting
with a rehabilitated "Buck" Crouse
at Sydney Stadium on July 15.
This was a very, different Crouse
from : the one who had faced Darcy.
It was something i of -, the Crouse he
had represented himself to be. Gone
was his nervousness, and a thrilling
battle, they. made, of it' Until a clash
of ' heads .in ,the ninth . laid : open
Smith's left eyebrow.
.So copious was: the flow- of blood
that at" the' : referee's instigation,
Smith's towel-.'was thrown in before
they came up for. thc tenth.
It wa8 an unfortunate ending,
but thc Australian'had his re-'.
. venge when on» August 5 he -
knocked out Crouse in the fourth
round. ,- -;: ?.,-?>. -'Crouse-was floored just-before thc
first round ended. Smith followed
up his '? advantage vigorously, in- the
next, ; and although he eased a bit in
the « third, he - had Crouse down : for
seven iii the fourth, and then knocked
him with a right to-the jaw.
This-smashing victory put Smith
right in-line fov'-a return date with
Darcy, and they met at Brisbane on
thn morning of August ! 15-the- big
Exhibition Day of tho northern capi-
tal. -There was a crowd of 6000,, a
notable attendance . for - 'Brisbane.
George Cook was in Dave Smith's
corner, and, of course, Mick. Hawkins
attended to Darcy. - ?.. . . :_t..:.'
Beyond All Doubt
rpHE gladiators -met "'ih mid-ring
. with smiles of friendship and
cordially shook hands;' *
? Smith shaped up confidently in the
firsthand although early bleeding
from" the nose he managed, to. holdhis- own., But he was heavily punish-
ed .; iii ¿the second, and although he
landed <> several ¡rights., to -.the jaw in
the third, he was made to miss a lot,
at the sanie time taking a severe
belting.'
Tho i, fourth .. and- fifth were .-, disas-
trous to, him,'and it was by now ob
vibÜB that he had no chance. He was
weakènifig round by round, and al-
though'lie tried to stave off .the in-
evitable by' frequent clinching; it was
apparent ? that Darcy could have
knocked him- out at any stage.
That Darcy had not sn atom
' of ' the "killer" in his make-up
waa manifest in the 11th when,
- after having been floored, Smith
leaned Weakly against the ropes,
trying to shield himself from the
, smashing coup-de-grace that
never came.; It was .a. relief to Darcy no less
than to ?the spectators... when Dave
Smith's .towel "'fluttered ;in . at thè.next
interval. "'..'".'.
The champion finished as fresh as
when he had,started.

[McGoorty]

I have just discovered the best newspaper source site I've seen so far. I typed in Les Darcy BuckCrouse and came up with at least 50 sources of just this single (and very short) fight..... it's called Trove, an invaluable source site for us... here is the link... http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rc...9dDexMwxFkyvkA

[McGoorty]

Bumping this thread because I worked real hard on this, many many hours of work for the benefit of boxing fans. I will look for more reports