PATHETIC SIDE OF SIKI’S CAREER

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3263, 5 February 1926, Page 10

PATHETIC SIDE OF SIKI’S CAREER

WAS RUG-SELLER, GUIDE, DISMAY ASHER, AV ALTER.

The only time I made on attempt to converse with Battling Slki was on the day after his remarkable victory over Georges Carpenter, writes Trevor C. Wlgnall in the "Daily Mail.” I had been taken by Descamps (Carpenticr’s manager) to the offices of a Paris film company to see the picture that had been taken the previous afternoon.

There was a doubt whether Carpentier had been tripped in the final instant and the film company had offered to show a slovv-motion film so as to settle the point. The chair on my right was empty and for a while I sat alone with Descamps. Then, in the darkness, I felt someone slip into the chair. When the lights went up I saw that my neighbour was a scared-looking coloured man, taut It was much later before I recognised him as Slki, As h e was the one person I wanted to meet 1 started to question him, and I remember now very vividly that although his mouth moved in reply not a sound passed his lips. I realised then that he was too dazed and too dumbfounded by all that had happened to speak a word. 7 I left him alone for a time and then again asked him some simple questions. He was still 'silent, and the best he could do. indeed, was to glare at me somewhat piteously. In the. and I gave him up as a bad job—l had failed to get a word from him. That p.fternoon at least he was a grown man with, the mind and mentality of an infant. Silii’S Downfall.

Three hours later I saw what was actually the start of his downfall. Siki then was in a cafe and surrounding him was a crowd of men and women who were doing everything save worship him. The previous evening I had seen him being carried in triumph along the boulevards; had seen men rush up to shake his hand and women fling their arms about his neck and kiss him. But on this second night the demonstrations were even more fulsome. And Siki was rapidly changing. He was strutting,, aiming blows at those who neared him, upsetting tables, and calling upon all and sundry to drink his health. Six weeks passed. Then I saw him again. This time/he was holding up ihe bar of a well-known hotel with a revolver. That, 3.9 a matter of fact, had by then become his favourite form of amusement. He had been so thoroughly spoiled that he had completely lost his head.

He was never satisfied unless'he was doing something that kept him in the centre of notoriety. He bought a lion for the solo purpose of taking it to a night club that had refused him admission, and it was his common habit, for weeks, to collect a few white friends and enter restaurants which barred coloured people and insist on being served with wine. Handcuffed.

When he fought M’Tigue in Dublin two years ago he was taken to Ireland handcuffed to a man who had been specially employed to look after him. The greatest difficulty was encountered in getting him to leave France. First ho would not go because his wife would not travel with him, then he refused to budge •until his many dogs were also given accommodation in the boat, and finally he had to he reduced to a state of seml-conscious-ness before anything could be done with him at all. I was sitting close to Garp.emiev during the contest. In the seventh round a man behind us yelled something which annoyed .Carpentier. He replied Heatedly in French: but the quick ears of Siki heard what was said, and instantaneously h e forgot that he was fighting M’Tigue and made as though to leap at Carpentier. I am convinced that he would have done so had it not been for the fact that as he turned M’Tigu e struck him on the nose. Siki’s real name was Louis Phal, and ho was born m Senegal on September 16, 1897. He started to. box in 1912, but prior to lhat he had worked in many capacities in France. He was, among other things, a rugseller, . a dish-washer, a guide, a “chucker-out” in Montmartre cafes, a waiter, and an ill-paid sparring partner. Before meeting Carpentier he never earned more than £2O for a fight. His selection as Carpontiers opponent was peculiar. The latter particularly wanted to appear before a Paris crowd, and six names were suggested to him—-four Englishmen, one Frenchman, and Siki. Carpentier Battered. Th e Seneglese was chosen because lie was the cheapest of the lot r and also because it did not appear likely that he would even lay a glove on Carpentier. Th e result of the fight is still too well remembered to need much a recapitulation. Siki fought like a novice in the first round, but then, maddened by Carpentler’s contempt (there is no other word for it) he suddenly became an animal. After battering Carpentier as few men had ever been battered before, he finally .knocked him out in the sixth round. Months later Siki created a sensation by declaring that the match was a fake. Carpentier denied this, and it. will be recollected that an inquiry was held in Paris and Carpentier’s statement bn the matter accepted. Siki never did anything worth while after defeating Carpentier. He was prevented from boxing in England by order of ihe Home Secretary, and it is not so long since that he was ordered to be deported Irom the United States.

His untimely end will not be regarded as surprising by anyone who knew him.