Battling Siki

Born in the port city of Saint-Louis, French Senegal. His father died when he was young. At age 10 he was brought to Europe and abandoned.^[1]

Lijntje van Appelteer (1902-1983), a Dutch woman, became his common-law wife. On 16 December 1921, she had a son.^[2] In 1923 Siki left France and never returned. In 1924 he married Lillian Werner of Memphis, Tennessee. A rare mixed-race marriage at the time. A scandal both due to race, and because he had abandoned van Appelteer and her child in France.^[3]

To the whole world I am a savage. I sometimes let them believe that. But gentlemen, it’s not true.

He started boxing at age 14. From 1912 to 1914 he compiled a modest record of eight wins, six losses and two draws.

When World War I erupted, Siki joined the French army, serving in the 8th Colonial Infantry Regiment. During the war he was decorated for bravery in battle with the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Militaire, before being honorably discharged.^[5]

After the war Siki compiled the impressive stretch of 44 wins in 47 bouts (22 KOs), suffering just one loss (on a decision) and two draws. He defeated French middleweight champion Ercole de Balzac. No weigh in occurred, so the title was not on the line. Balzac was stripped of the title after defeat.^[2] Siki also defeated French heavyweight champion Marcel Nilles, again without the title on the line.

Georges Carpentier was the reigning World Light-Heavyweight Champion and European champion. Carpentier had recently lost to Jack Dempsey in 1921 in a historic fight and returned home to France more popular than before. Carpentier had been billed as a "war hero" to oppose the champion Dempsey, alleged draft dodger.

Both Siki and Carpentier had both won the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Militaire in World War I. The two met in Paris in September 1922 at the Stade Buffalo. Carpentier was part-owner of this 55,000 seat venue, he promoted the event, and also provided the referee.^[6] Siki was knocked down in the first and again in the third. Siki later claimed that he had agreed to take a dive, and that these knockdowns were part of the deal.^[7] Either due to Carpentier being too rough, or his taunting, Siki felt the agreement had been broken. In the sixth round Siki hit Carpentier with a powerful right uppercut that put Carpentier down and out for the count. The referee claimed Siki had tripped Carpentier, and awarded the bout to the unconscious Carpentier on a foul. Fearing a riot from the crowd, the three ringside judges overruled the referee, and Siki was eventually declared the champion. The French Boxing Federation, where Carpentier's manager was a boardmember, revoked Siki's boxing license. Though it lacked the authority to strip him of the World title.

Siki was now the first black world champion since Jack Johnson, and the first black fighter to have received a world title shot in that time. Like in Johnson's championship reign, many countries still refused to sanction interracial title fights. Siki had a fight arranged to defend his title against Joe Beckett in London, but this was stopped by Home Secretary William Bridgeman. "In contests between men of color and white men, the temperments of the contestants are not comparable and moreover all sorts of passions are aroused... such contests are considered against the national interests and they tend to arouse passions which it is inadvisbible to stimulate."^[8][9]

With few other options, Siki signed to defend his title against Irish-American light heavyweight Mike McTigue on Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin, despite the ongoing Irish Civil War.^[10] Nat Fleischer founder of The Ring, "It is doubtful whether a boxing contest was ever staged under such conditions... Spectators walked to the theater between rows of guards. Armored cars loomed around corners. Machine guns poked their noses from points of vantage." ^[11] After viewing newsreel footage of the fight in 1979, Robert Cantwell of Sports Illustrated concluded that Siki won more rounds and should have been declared the winner.^[12] George Kimball commented: "Under today’s scoring system, Siki might indeed have won more rounds than McTigue, but remember, [referee] Smith wasn’t handing in round-by-round totals, and his overall view was apt to be more shaped by the concluding rounds than those that had taken place more than an hour earlier."^[13] McTigue won after 20 rounds to become the new champion.

After losing his title Siki moved to the United States. First fighting and losing to Kid Norfolk in a 15 round decision at Madison Square Garden. His record in the States was poor and his failure to train properly was evident; his record after winning the title was 11 wins (7 KOS), 17 losses, 1 draw and 2 no contests. He either won by KO or lost by decision in nearly every fight.

In 1924 he traveled to Havana, Cuba to fight Santiago Esparraguera. Siki became ill on arrival, and the bout was eventually cancelled. In a separate incident in Cuba, Siki was hit over the head with a glass bowl, needing 6 stitches.^[14] He returned to the United States without having a bout in Cuba at all, and broke 5 ribs in a car accident shortly after in Nebraska.^[15]

In July 1925 Siki was stabbed and hospitalized days after defeating Jimmy Francis by 2nd round KO. Francis, like many boxers in New York at the time, was connected to mobster Owney Madden. Biographer Steven Benson speculates this was payback for Siki failing to throw the Jimmy Francis fight.^[16]

On 15 December 1925, he was stopped by a policeman who saw him drunk on 42nd Street, not far from his apartment, and not far from where he had been stabbed in July. Siki stated that he was on his way home, and walked off. Later he was found lying face down, shot twice in the back at close range, dead at the age of 28.

The Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, the father of Adam Clayton Powell Jr., presided over his funeral, which was held in Harlem, New York.^[17]

He was initially buried at Flushing Cemetery, in an unmarked grave.^[18] There were brief ceremonies held in the Flushing Cemetery on 46th Ave and was participated in by representatives of the Senegalese government and of the African Boxing Union: a headstone was dedicated here by the International Veterans Boxing Association.^[18] Cherif Djigo, first consul at the Senegalese Mission to the United Nations, stated "This stone represents to us a grand symbol that Battling Siki has not been forgotten".^[18] His body was repatriated to Senegal in 1993.^[19]

In February 2023 the World Boxing Council hosted the Premiere of Ashley Morrison's documentary on Battling Siki's life entitled "Return To Your Corner" at the New York Athletic Club.^[20]

Battling Siki vs. Carpentier was viewed by a young Ernest Hemingway. Elements of the fight are present in his short story Fifty Grand.^[21]

All information in this section is derived from BoxRec,^[22] unless otherwise stated.

All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Record with the inclusion of newspaper decisions in the win/loss/draw column.

• NYSAC light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)
• NBA (WBA) light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)

• European light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)
• European heavyweight champion (200+ lbs)

• Undisputed light heavyweight champion

• List of light heavyweight boxing champions