BoxRec

It never happened because McCoy wouldn't travel to Australia, and Les Darcy was denied a passport for failing to enlist for WW1. But through the power of imagination let's say McCoy and Darcy met for the undisputed World Middleweight Title in a bout scheduled for 20 rounds in the year 1916. Who would win ?

Darcy was the much better puncher and also had the better chin. Al McCoy had never been stopped at this point in his career, but he also had not faced the opposition that Darcy had, and in 1917 he would be ko'ed twice, one of those knockouts coming at the hands of clubfighter Tommy Robson.

As I see it, McCoy's vast experience and southpaw style enables him to survive the first half of the fight, but just barely as the inevitable is clearly in sight. The young Australian who's already knocked out the likes of Eddie McGoorty, Dave Smith, Buck Crouse, George Chip, Fred Dyer and Fighting Billy Murray is too strong and hits harder than anyone McCoy has ever faced. Around the 11th or 12th Darcy finishes off the American and becomes the undisputed champion.

On the face of it this is an easy question. Darcy was simply the far superior fighter and thus should be heavily favored. However Darcy fought under different conditions. The weight he fought at was 160, not the accepted 158. There is and was some question of whether he could make 168 on the day of the fight due in large part to the fact that he arrived in the United States weighing upwards of 180 pounds. Only a few places in the USA were holding 20 round fights at that time, New Orleans being the obvious choice for a championship match. Would McCoy be allowed to use his handpicked referee Johnny McAcoy? Would the fight be to a decision? I dont agree that Darcy fought better competition. His competition was comparable to McCoys only he had better success against those men. In fact they fought pretty much the same men with the exception that Darcy faced McGoorty who McCoy didnt face, and McCoy faced Dillon and Gibbons who Darcy didnt face. How would Darcy fair without the help of his promoters handpicked referee Harold Baker? How would he react to a crowd so far from home under the intense pressure he was under? There are some definite question marks surrounding Darcy that his death left unanswered. Like I said, Darcy would and should be heavily favored BUT Im not so sure we could consider this a "unification" bout. That would do a disservice to Gibbons and Dillon who were still making claims on the championship. Both of which would have given Darcy a much more difficult fight than McCoy.

Al McCoy was widely derided as the "cheese champion" because he lost most of his important ND bouts while holding the title but never got knocked out.

No question, Darcy is better. klompton makes some good points about the conditions, and the fight could have only really happened in NO or Denver to a decision.

I do think Darcy faced better competition in that his fights went to a decision, but McCoy's did not. McCoy could have been beaten from pillar to post, but if he stayed up he would retain his title. If Darcy needed to make 158 pounds, he would have made 158 because any stamina he would have lost in making weight he would have made up for with clearly superior talent versus McCoy.

The best fight of the time between the Top 2 middleweights would have been Gibbons-Darcy for all the marbles. Tex Rickard was working hard to make McCoy-Darcy and then later Gibbons-Darcy. Everything was shaping up before Darcy unfortunately died.

klompton, I got some Sydney Morning Herald through my library but no Sundays were available and their boxing coverage is not as strong as I thought. If you can give me some sources for articles on these Aussie fights, I would appreciate it.

Thanks gentleman, you both bring up some interesting points.

Dnahar

I take it you're from Australia so I'll assume you have more access to information about Darcy. So let me ask you. Did Darcy ever give any reasons for his failure to enlist for WW1 ? I once heard an unsubstantiated claim that he was an Irish Nationalist and his failure to enlist was due to the situation in Ireland. Still he attempted to enlist in the US which would almost seem to cancel that out. Ironically he took alot of criticism in the US who were not even involved in the War yet.

Obviously Darcy vs Gibbons would be the ultimate matchup at Middleweight in 1916, though once again I'd go with Darcy to win again. This time however by a hard fought but clear cut decision over any distance.

Seamus, I'm not from Australia but Arkansas, LOL. I was interested in the middleweights of this ND time period (great talent, but no definitive title fights) and just recently got microfilm of the Sydney paper to study the Australian fights. If I find anything on Darcy and the war, I will let you know.

Although I have no idea whether or not Les was an Irish Nationalist I wouldn't immediately dispell the notion. I am an Aussie of Irsih decent from the Central Coast of NSW and I was raised with Irsh Nationalist sentiments. My great uncle Tiddly was jailed for refusing consciption very early in WWII. They lined him up in the recruitment line and asked him to "swear allegiance King and Country". Tiddly replied "F'k the King, and the It'liens, the British are my enemies and Australia is my country". Among pre-WWII Irsih-Aussies there was a strong ethnic and nationalist identity. Maybe Les Darcy reflected those sentiments. Someone probably knows. Oh by the way, I've been to Maitland many times and visited the Les Darcy monument. The oldtimers up there are very proud. Understandably, the youngsters neither knwo or care.

I've seen tape of Darcy but not of McCoy. Part of the tape I saw of Darcy was six minutes of him training. Most of that time showed him practicing clinching and then wrestling in the clinch to wear down the opposition. I found that curious as these days we tend to look down on fighters of that era for their clinching but it was none of the clinging on confusion that is a clinch today.

darcy didnt enlist because he needed his mothers consent as he was under the age of 21, she refused so he was unable to enlist, he tried on two occasions, he even joined the US air force while he was in america before his death so he could get a boxing licence

According to the Les Darcy bio "Home Before Dark" by Ruth Park, Darcy didn't enlist because he was the lone contributor to his family's income.
Darcy's mother led of some kind of desease and had small children to raise and Darcy's father was a heavy alcoholic and disabled for that reason.
Darcy always claimed he would enlist as soon as his family were finacially secure if he should die in action in the war.

Also, enlistment was not obligatory, but very heavily urged by the Australian goverment. Several known Australian athletes did not receieve any hassle fro the press for not enlisting, but Darcy was one of those who did.
Darcy did enlist in the US army when he reached the states and the plan was for him to have one fight before he left. Sadly he took ill after only a few days of training and died a month later. Doctor's said his death was a very painful one.

I am of the opinion that Darcy would have beaten McCoy handidly. McCoy fought the better level of opposition, but outside of the George Chip fight he either lost or managed a draw.
Darcy beat his best opponents, including the same Chip that twice beat McCoy in ND rematches.

While training and touring in the US Darcy manhandled his sparring partners, including KO'ing the heavyweight Fred Fulton with ease.
Had he not passed away so early he would likely have developed into a light heavyweight and heavyweight along the way.
There a good possibility that Darcy's tragic death cheated history out of good fights with Harry Greb, Jack Dillon, Gene Tunney, Georges Carpentier and maybe even Jack Dempsey, probably many more.

-KOKid-

PS! I highly recommend the Darcy bio by Ruth Park.