Les Darcy: the Legend of the Fighting Man: The Legend of the Fighting Man Fenton, Peter

Les Darcy was a blacksmith's apprentice from Maitland who became Australia's most beloved boxer before he was old enough to vote. By 21, he'd fought 50 professional bouts — many against grown men who outweighed him — and lost just four. But it was 1916, conscription was tearing the country apart, and when Darcy sailed to America to chase bigger purses, he was branded a coward for dodging the war. He died in Memphis months later, broke and heartbroken, never having fought on American soil. Peter Fenton traces the rise of a working-class hero and the ugly nationalism that destroyed him. This is Australian sporting mythology at its rawest — part underdog story, part cautionary tale about what happens when a country turns on its own. For fans of boxing history, WWI-era Australia, or anyone drawn to stories of talent meeting tragedy too soon.