Author: Peter Fitzsimons

The Ballad of Les Darcy, a biography of the legendary Australian boxer, is the latest book from Australia's bestselling author Peter FitzSimons 

'Put Les Darcy in a uniform and the men of Australia will march to hell behind him.'

That was the message Australia's great Blacksmith Boxer was getting, as debate about conscription raged in the middle of World War 1. The problem was that Les Darcy didn't want to march at the fore of such a procession, nor to such a destination. He wanted to continue what he had been doing to extraordinary acclaim before the war began - taking on the best boxers the world could throw at him, and lifting his entire family out of poverty as he did so.