Fred Dyer

Fred Dyer born Frederick William O'Dwyer, was a Welsh boxing champion, boxing manager and baritone singer. Trained by vocal teacher Clara Novello Davies, Dyer was famed for singing to audiences after he had fought in a contest and was nicknamed 'The Singing Boxer'. In 1913 Dyer was briefly Wales welterweight champion when he beat Jack Delaney, who won the belt back just six weeks later. During his professional career Dyer took two overseas tours, to Australia from 1914 to 1915 and the United States from 1916 to 1919. Due to the time spent in Australia, he became eligible to contest for national titles, unsuccessfully challenging Les Darcy for the welterweight belt in 1915. The highpoint of his time in America, then during the 'no decision' era, was a win over Panama Joe Gans. Due to a knee injury, Dyer was refused active service during the First World War; instead he was recruited into the United States Army as a boxing instructor. After retiring from fighting Dyer ran various boxing gyms in London, successfully managing British flyweight champion Bert Kirby.