Dai Dower
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David William "Dai" Dower
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(20 June 1933 – 1 August 2016), was a Welsh professional boxer who was a British, Empire and European
Flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of b ...
boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
champion, and is considered by fans and critics alike as one of the most successful Welsh boxers of all time.


Amateur career

After becoming the 1952 Amateur Boxing Association British flyweight champion, when boxing out of the Roath Youth ABC Dower was selected for the team of Great Britain at the 1952 Summer Olympics in the boxing squad, recording victories over Abdelamid Boutefnouchet of France (3–0) and Leslie Donovan Perera Handunge of Ceylon (3–0) before finally losing to
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
boxer
Anatoli Bulakov Anatoly Nikolayevich Bulakov (russian: Анатолий Николаевич Булаков) (February 3, 1930 – September 19, 1994) was a boxer from the USSR, who won the bronze medal in the flyweight division (– 51 kg) at the ...
, the holder of the Russian and European titles, 1–2.


Professional career

While continuing to work as a
coal miner Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
at Abercynon colliery, in 1953 Dower turned professional and he made his professional debut at Maindy Arena in
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
against Vernon John. Dower won by
technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...
. Dower then beat Ron Hughes in two rounds before he was taken the distance for the first time, opposing the vastly more experienced Preston fighter Colin Clitheroe. Clitheroe had lost three of twenty two fights, mostly at
bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...
, but lost to Dower by points in a six-round bout. With another four wins to his name, including two over Jimmy Roche, Dower faced Clitheroe again, this time stopping him in round five. On 23 March 1954, with 14 straight professional wins, Dower faced current British Flyweight Champion Terry Allen in a non-title fight at 8st 2lbs. Scheduled for a ten-round fight at
Earls Court Arena Earls Court Exhibition Centre was a major international exhibition and events venue just west of central London. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds ...
in London, Dower stopped Allen in the second. With 20 successful bouts as a professional boxer under his belt Dower was given his first chance at a title fight. On 19 October 1954 he became British Empire Champion, taking the title away from South African Zulu boxer
Jake Tuli Jake Tuli (7 July 1931 – 24 November 1998) born Jacob Ntuli in Johannesburg was a South African professional fly/ bantam/featherweight boxer of the 1950s and 1960s who won the Transvaal (South Africa) ( Non White) flyweight title, South Afri ...
. In November 1954, Dower was ranked 3 in the world by '' The Ring'' magazine. Dower was selected as the 'Best Young Boxer' of 1954 by the Boxing Writers' Club in February 1955. Dower married Evelyn Trapp on 6 January 1955. A second chance of a title came in 1955 in the shape of the British flyweight crown. Terry Allen, a previous Dower victim, had vacated the title allowing Dai Dower to contest the crown against Eric Marsden on 8 March at the Harringay Arena. Also at stake was Dower's Empire crown. Dower beat Marsden by points over the 15 round contest. Still unbeaten after 23 fights, the next title came just five months later when Dower took on Nazzareno Gianelli for the European Flyweight title at
Earls Court Exhibition Centre Earls Court Exhibition Centre was a major international exhibition and events venue just west of central London. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds, ...
, London. The fight went the distance, with Dower winning on points to add the European title. His first defeat came in his defence of the European title, his 27th fight.
Young Martin Martin Marco Voto (March 5, 1931 – June 17, 2006) better known as Young Martin, was a Spaniard professional boxer in the Flyweight division. He won various regional level titles and challenged once for the world's flyweight championship. Europ ...
, a Spaniard, began to get through to the champion with his forceful and hurtful body attacks. Dower was dropped in the ninth round for the first time in his career. Dower hit the canvas six times in the tenth. It ended in the twelfth round when Martin dropped Dower for the full count. In December 1955, he made a successful defence of his Empire title against Tuli. Five wins out of five followed in 1956. Later in the year Dower's plans were interrupted when he was called up to the army to do his two years
National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...
, having expected to continue working at the colliery. He joined the
Welch Regiment The Welch Regiment (or "The Welch", an archaic spelling of "Welsh") was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of ...
in October 1956, relinquishing his titles at the same time. In December 1956 he was ranked 2nd in the world (behind Pascual Perez) by ''The Ring''. On 30 March 1957 Dower fought World
Flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of b ...
Champion Perez at Club Atletico San Lorenzo de Almagro, in Perez's home town of
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. Dower suffered a first-round defeat despite going into the fight with a weight advantage of more than five pounds. Dai Dower continued his National Service in the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
. He beat Eric Brett in January 1958, and a few days before his army time ended, was due to face
Terry Spinks Terence "Terry" George Spinks MBE (28 February 1938 – 26 April 2012) was a boxer from Great Britain, who won the gold medal in the flyweight division (– 51 kg) at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. In the f ...
, although the fight was cancelled. Dower only had one more fight, a points defeat against Canadian Pat Supple in October 1958.


Later life and death

Shortly before his final fight he took up the position of sports master at Ringwood Grammar School in Bournemouth. He became head of sport at
Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The univer ...
, a position he held for twenty one years, and in June 1998 he became the recipient of an MBE, awarded for his years of teaching sport to children. Dower lived in retirement in Bournemouth. Dower died on 1 August 2016 at the age of 83.Dai Dower: Former British flyweight champion dies aged 83
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See also

* Boxing at the 1952 Summer Olympics *
List of British flyweight boxing champions List of British flyweight boxing champions is a table showing the boxers who have won the British flyweight title. The title has been sanctioned by the National Sporting Club since 1909, and later by its replacement British Boxing Board of Contr ...


References


External links


Fight record


*
Dai Dower on Pascual Perez world title fight
BBC Sport {{DEFAULTSORT:Dower, Dai 1933 births 2016 deaths Welsh male boxers Flyweight boxers People from Abercynon Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic boxers of Great Britain Boxers at the 1952 Summer Olympics