51 Facts About Fred Dyer

Fred Dyer born Frederick William O'Dwyer, was a Welsh boxing champion, boxing manager and baritone singer.

In 1913 Fred Dyer was briefly Wales welterweight champion when he beat Jack Delaney, who won the belt back just six weeks later.

Fred Dyer then became a physical culture coach and was at the forefront of a diet fad in the 1920s based on fruit and vegetable drinks.

Fred Dyer was born in 1888 in Cardiff, Wales to a Welsh mother and Irish father.

Fred Dyer's mother came from a musical background and was a member of the Royal Welsh Glee, while his father was a bare knuckle boxer.

Fred Dyer showed promise as a baritone singer and was trained by Clara Novello Davies, mother of Ivor Novello.

Fred Dyer was an impressive sportsman, as a swimmer and, like his father, a boxer; but his family's poverty decreed that he took up boxing over his singing to provide an income.

Fred Dyer fought in the travelling show booths for quick money, but when this was discovered by the amateur boxing association, it led to him being stripped of his amateur status, which in turn saw his hopes of competing at the 1908 Summer Olympics in boxing and in swimming dashed.

Fred Dyer was a popular choice with boxing promoters, helped by the fact that after each bout he would sing Thora, a popular hit of the day to the audience.

Fred Dyer was easily ahead in the bout, when in the fifth round he dislocated his knee and fell to the canvas in agony.

Emden, who taunted the fallen Fred Dyer, was given the victory and Fred Dyer would not fight for another six months.

Fred Dyer's return bout in November 1911 was a win against Young Lilley at The Ring, but this was again followed by a long absence.

On 7 July 1913 Fred Dyer faced Jack Delaney for the vacant Wales Area Welterweight title, despite Delaney being English.

Fred Dyer held the title for just over a month when a rematch for the title ended in victory for Delaney.

Summers though had travelled to Australia to extend his boxing campaign, and in the spring of 1914 Fred Dyer decided to follow him abroad to challenge for his title.

Fred Dyer stopped off en route in South Africa to play music halls in a bid to help pay his fares.

Fred Dyer entertained with a mixture of songs and shadow boxing, and challenged all-comers to fight with him at the end of the show.

Fred Dyer's first fight, in May 1914, was at the Athletic Pavilion in Melbourne against Knucker Pearce.

In March 1915 Fred Dyer put his boxing on temporary hold and spent some time in New Zealand, performing on the Brennan-Fuller vaudeville circuit.

Fred Dyer then connected cleanly with Kay's nose at the start of the eighth, putting Kay down for a count of eight.

Fred Dyer's corner called a foul blow, but the ring doctor could find no evidence and Kay retained his belt.

Fred Dyer then travelled to the East Coast and to New York, and on 6 May 1916 he was back in the ring, in a ten-round fight with local boxer Tommy Maloney.

Fred Dyer appears to have forgone fighting for over a year, but then returned to the ring in July 1917, both contests held at the Rochester Airdome.

Fred Dyer was given his first win since arriving in America in his encounter with Willie Langford but this was followed by another loss, this time to Bryan Downey.

On 28 September 1917, Fred Dyer fought in Boston, Massachusetts, facing local fighter Tommy Robson, in which the referee declared a draw.

Fred Dyer's next fight, against Frankie Maguire in Pennsylvania, was given to Dyer by the Philadelphia Record after the fight went the distance.

Fred Dyer's next fight was against Lew Williams, which was given to Williams by the New York Evening Telegram, though The New York Sun believed Fred Dyer shaded the match with more precise punching.

Fred Dyer easily outpointed Gans and was awarded the decision by several New York papers.

Fred Dyer fought twice more in New York in 1917, avoiding the newspaper decisions with a knockout win over Kid Queens and then a technical knockout of Kid Carter.

In late 1917 Fred Dyer faced Tommy Robson again in two encounters in Massachusetts.

On 1 February 1918 Fred Dyer was awarded a points victory over Frankie Mack in Boston, which he followed up with another win this time over Terry Brooks.

At the start of the Brooks fight, as Fred Dyer was getting into the ring, he was handed a telegram informing him that he had been appointed as a boxing instructor for the National Army.

Fred Dyer had been refused admission into the British and American Armies on account of the broken cartilage in his right knee.

Fred Dyer was eventually based at Camp Grant in Illinois, but fought one more bout, a win over Walter Butler of Boston before beginning his commission.

Fred Dyer did not fight outside the armed forces during the rest of the war, but he proved successful in his role as camp boxing instructor with Camp Grant performing well in boxing tournaments.

Fred Dyer continued his charity work, singing and boxing in front of the public and the armed forces.

Fred Dyer's first fight outside the army was against local boxer Tommy Ferguson at the Town Hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Fred Dyer has appeared at charity contests in the early half of 1919, mainly for the Boxers' Loyalty League, sparring with the likes of Tim Healy and Silas Green.

Fred Dyer fought a few more professional bouts in America, a draw and a loss to Joe Egan and a newspaper decision win over Jimmy Gray, but by 1920 Fred Dyer had left the country and had returned to Europe.

When Fred Dyer returned to Europe he initially travelled to France, where he sang and played to theatres in Paris.

Just a week before his encounter with Audouy, Ted Lewis had regained his British middleweight title but Fred Dyer's reoccurring injury now ruled out any encounter between the fighters.

Fred Dyer followed this with a points decision over Jack Zimmer and then won through Will Brooks' disqualification in a contest held in Cardiff.

In November 1920 Fred Dyer was invited to the National Sporting Club in London to face 'Bermondsey' Billy Wells.

Fred Dyer then refocussed on boxing, but this time as a manager.

Fred Dyer ran a gym for gentleman on the Strand, which was used by fighters such as Bantamweight champion Teddy Baldock and American Packey McFarland who Fred Dyer faced when the two men were boxing instructors in the US Army.

The gym was later demolished to make way for a new hotel and Fred Dyer was forced to find a new location.

Fred Dyer took his role as a physical culture expert very seriously and insisted on managing the diet of his boxers.

Fred Dyer was at the forefront of a fad in the mid-1920s which was based on a diet of fruit and vegetable drinks, a lifestyle choice that he believed could cure all illnesses.

Fred Dyer continued in his career as a physical culture expert into the next decade and was still working out of London in that capacity in 1939.

Fred Dyer slowly slipped into obscurity, and his dealings after London, including his place and date of death, are unknown.

One commonly held misconception connected to Fred Dyer is that he holds the second longest unbeaten record of fights of any boxer in world history, after fellow Welsh fighter Jimmy Wilde.