Alf Barber

As an amateur, Brighton’s Alf Barber fought at bantamweight, but switched to flyweight after joining the professional ranks. Despite being a Southern Area champion, Barber never won an ABA title, but lost to W. Goulding in the 1922 final, and in 1923 and 1924 lost at the semi-final stage, to Les Tarrant on both occasions.

Barber turned professional after his 1924 Olympic appearance, and in 23 contests, enjoyed 14 wins and nine defeats. He was, on two occasions, scheduled to meet Elky Clark for the British flyweight title. The fight was cancelled, firstly because Clark was ill with tonsillitis, and before their scheduled second meeting, Clark suffered a serious eye injury during a world title bout with Fidel LaBarba at Madison Square Garden in January 1927. This meant he had to pull out of the meeting with Barber. This resulted in Clark being stripped of the title and in May 1927 Barber met the Scot Johnny Hill at the NSC (National Sporting Club) for the vacant British title, which Hill won when the referee stopped the fight in the 14th of 20 scheduled rounds. It was Barber’s only crack at a British title. Hill tragically collapsed and died in 1929 at the age of 28.