Early life Dyer was born in 1888 in
Cardiff, Wales to a Welsh mother and Irish father. 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. Dyer showed promise as a baritone singer and was trained by
Clara Novello Davies, mother of
Ivor Novello. His first few bouts were all held in south Wales, but by the autumn of 1910 he was travelling to England to fight, and on 10 October 1910 he was invited to fight at the
National Sporting Club in Covent Garden, London. On 15 May 1911 Dyer was scheduled to fight Dick Emden at The Ring in
Blackfriars, London. To date, Dyer had recorded over 15 bouts and was unbeaten but the fight with Emden ended in defeat and affected his future boxing career. Dyer was easily ahead in the bout, when in the fifth round he dislocated his knee and fell to the canvas in agony. His return bout in November 1911 was a win against Young Lilley at The Ring, but this was again followed by a long absence. Dyer did not fight again until 1 June 1912. On 7 July 1913 Dyer faced Jack Delaney for the vacant Wales Area Welterweight title, despite Delaney being English. The fight was staged at the Skating Rink on
Westgate Street in Cardiff and was scheduled for 20 rounds. The fight went the distance and Dyer was awarded the bout on
points decision, making him the Welsh welterweight champion. He held the title for just over a month when a rematch for the title ended in victory for Delaney. Despite the loss, a win over
Gus Platts—who would later become British and European middleweight champion—in October resulted in Dyer being touted as one of the preferred challengers to the British welterweight champion
Johnny Summers. Dyer entertained with a mixture of songs and shadow boxing, and challenged all-comers to fight with him at the end of the show. His first fight, in May 1914, was at
the Athletic Pavilion in Melbourne against Knucker Pearce. The six round fight went the distance in Dyer's favour. On 17 October 1914 he easily beat Sol Jones in a 20-round fight that went the distance, which was followed by a contest with American fighter
Fritz Holland. Holland had arrived in Australia in 1914, and had already beaten English fighter Tom McCormick and local wonderkid
Les Darcy. The fight with Holland took place at
Baker's Stadium, where Dyer had beaten Jones just the month before. The 20 round contest went the full distance, but when the referee declared the fight a draw there was uproar from the spectators who considered Dyer the winner. This was backed up by press representatives who had scored 16 of the rounds in favour of Dyer. Dyer's display against Holland brought about a contest with Les Darcy, the "Maitland Wonder". After their first contest was delayed when Darcy was detained in quarantine in Sydney, a contest was arranged for
Boxing Day at Baker's Stadium. At the start of the fight, Darcy weighed in at 11 st 1 lb, while Dyer's weight was not announced beforehand, but in the after-fight weighing, it was recorded as 10 st 2 lbs. Before the bout Dyer was sporting a black-eye sustained in sparring and his knee strapped, which he always did after his dislocating the knee in 1911. During his time in Australia Dyer was involved in exhibition work and was one of the boxers present at the opening of a new stadium at the
Broadmeadows Training Camp for soldiers in Melbourne. Dyer's attempts to continue his boxing career stumbled during this period. A match was arranged with local butcher Jimmy McNabb, but McNabb then switched his fight to face Holland instead, though Holland's team promised to give Dyer a fight with fellow American Jimmy Fitton, but that too fell through. A further fight was arranged with Belgian fighter Henri Demlen, but an injury to Demlen ending the encounter. In March 1915 Dyer put his boxing on temporary hold and spent some time in New Zealand, performing on the Brennan-Fuller vaudeville circuit. Eventually a bout was secured with
Victoria middleweight champion Ed Williams, and the two met at the newly built
West Melbourne Stadium on 29 May 1915. Despite being the lighter boxer, Dyer outpointed Williams from the fourth round of the fight and won by knockout in the ninth. Just a week after defeating Williams, a rematch was announced between Dyer and Holland. The fight venue was
Rushcutters Bay Stadium in Sydney and both fighters turned out for a training exhibition in the build-up to the contest. The contest, held on 5 June 1915, was watched by a crowd of 2,000 spectators. The fight went the full distance and in the closing rounds Holland, realising that his only chance of victory was a knockout, attacked Dyer ferociously, staggering the Welshman in the 19th. Despite the late assault, Dyer stayed on his feet and was announced the winner by the referee. After the Holland fight, Dyer made several attempts at a rematch with Darcy, reportedly to the exclusion of other fights, in the belief that the encounter would draw a big crowd and a large purse. The postponed fight with Delmen was again mooted, but this too never occurred. In the meantime Dyer continued to busy himself with charity work, setting up a boxing fund for injured soldiers in Sydney, and continued to tour the vaudeville circuit in New South Wales. Dyer's persistence eventually paid off, and an encounter with Darcy was arranged for 9 October at Rushcutters Bay Stadium, with the Middleweight Championship title at stake. The fight was a one-sided affair, with Dyer outclassed throughout. Although Darcy was warned for a low blow in the fourth round, Dyer was never in the fight and his corner
threw in the towel after one minute of the sixth round. Dyer's final fight in Australia was a challenge for the Australian Welterweight title, held by Melbourne fighter
Fred Kay. Due to the fact that Dyer had been a resident in Australia for over a year he was now allowed to challenge for the Australian belts. The fight was held on 6 November 1915 and was scheduled for 20 rounds. Initially it appeared that Dyer would win the title comfortably, out-scoring the champion for most of the early rounds. Dyer then connected cleanly with Kay's nose at the start of the eighth, putting Kay down for a count of eight. When Kay rose he was bloodied and spent much of the round in defence, but by the ninth Kay had recovered and was now the aggressor. In the eleventh round Kay caught Dyer with a powerful body shot that put him down for the count. Dyer's corner called a foul blow, but the ring doctor could find no evidence and Kay retained his belt. and by Christmas Eve the American press were already announcing his arrival in the States. In January, Dyer was in San Francisco, where he fought local boxer Bob McAllister, losing on points in a four-round contest. He 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. The fight went the distance ending in a draw, though local newspapers gave the decision to Maloney. After the fight Dyer entertained the crowd with an operatic song. Dyer continued to box regularly in New York State losing to Frankie Notter in June and then recording a draw with George Ashe in July. 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. He 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, Dyer fought in Boston, Massachusetts, facing local fighter Tommy Robson, in which the referee declared a draw. His next fight, against Frankie Maguire in Pennsylvania, was given to Dyer by the
Philadelphia Record after the fight went the distance. 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 Dyer shaded the match with more precise punching. On 3 November 1917, A fight with
Panama Joe Gans was arranged. The fight was held at the Clermont Avenue Rink in
Brooklyn, location of his last two contests, the loss to Williams and then a win over Young
Battling Nelson. Dyer easily outpointed Gans and was awarded the decision by several New York papers. The win over Gans caused some members of the press to talk of Dyer as a challenger for welterweight title holder
Ted "Kid" Lewis, the London boxer who was then based in America. A match was made but Lewis injured a finger and the match was called off. By the time Lewis was fit he had lost his title to
Jack Britton, and Britton was not interested in fighting Dyer. Despite fighting for twelve rounds against Robson, Dyer entertained the crowd after the fight by playing his
ukulele and singing popular songs. As in Australia, Dyer continued to appear at charity events in aid of the war effort. In January 1918 he appeared as part of a fundraiser for the basketball team The Newark Elks, who had several players fighting in Europe. Headlining the bill was world boxing champion
Benny Leonard. On 1 February 1918 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 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. Dyer had been refused admission into the British and American Armies on account of the broken cartilage in his right knee. 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. Dyer also continued his charity work, singing and boxing in front of the public and the armed forces. With the end of the war, Dyer returned to civilian life. His first fight outside the army was against local boxer Tommy Ferguson at the Town Hall in
Scranton, Pennsylvania. The
Scranton Times gave the decision to Ferguson, though the
Evening Public Ledger gave every round to Dyer. Just a day later this was followed by a decisive loss to Eddie Trembley in Jersey City. Dyer then finished with his third fight within the week by facing Joe Egan on 18 February, a late substitute for Paul Doyle. Dyer lost by points decision. After defeating Young Battling Nelson again, in a rematch set in
Binghamton, Dyer lost on points a week later to Wisconsin fighter Pal Reed. He continued to appear 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. By now Dyer's vaudeville bookings were far outnumbering his boxing appearances and in the latter half of 1919 he faced only a handful of opponents in paid boxing matches. Between August and September Dyer was part of a touring boxing show organised by the
Knights of Columbus, fighting for the entertainment of returned and injured soldiers. 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 Dyer had left the country and had returned to Europe.
Career end When Dyer returned to Europe he initially travelled to France, where he sang and played to theatres in Paris. After the National Sporting Club debacle, Dyer turned more and more to his singing and very few fights are recorded after 1920. A fight against Jim Slater in January 1922 is believed to be his last bout.
Later life After retiring from boxing, a decision forced on him by his ailing knee, Dyer focused on his theatre appearances. His voice though, was not as it once was, and he strained to reach the higher notes of his range and bookings began to dry up. Kirby went on to become the British flyweight champion when he took the title from
Jackie Brown in 1930. The gym was later demolished to make way for a new hotel and Dyer was forced to find a new location. 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. Dyer slowly slipped into obscurity, and his dealings after London, including his place and date of death, are unknown. ==Boxing record==