Louis Mbarick Fall (Battling Siki), was a French-Senegalese light heavyweight boxer born in Senegal who fought from 1912 to 1925 and briefly reigned as the World light heavyweight champion after knocking out Georges Carpentier.
Fall was born in the port city of Saint-Louis, Senegal. While still a teenager, he changed his name and moved to metropolitan France. By the age of 15, he began his professional boxing career. From 1912 to 1914 he compiled a record of just 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.
After his discharge from the military, Siki resumed his boxing career. In October and November 1920 Siki boxed two matches in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Siki lived a life well in the public eye with partying, drinking and sporting flashy clothes. He would walk his pet lion down the Champs-Élysées while wearing his top hat and tuxedo. He was also known to fire his revolvers in the air in public as a means of getting his two Great Danes to do tricks. He was quite fond of white women, and married twice to white women.
He received offers to fight in the United States, instead, he signed to defend his title against Irish light heavyweight Mike McTigue on Saint Patrick’s Day in Dublin. He was defeated and became the first loss in a downward trend and poor ring performances by Siki.
After losing his European title, Siki moved to the United States. His record in the States was poor and he failed to defeat any top-notch fighters. On December 15, he was stopped by a police officer who saw him staggering drunk not too far from his apartment in New York. Later, Siki was found shot twice in the back at close range, he was dead at the age of 28. His record was 64-25-5 with 35 knockouts.
sources:
http://www.espn.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3295793
https://thestacks.deadspin.com/who-shot-battling-siki-the-life-and-murder-of-a-prizef-514051485
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