Dai St. John

British boxer (1871-1899)

Born

1 April 1871, Resolven

Died

23 November 1899, Orange Free State

Citizenship

South Africa, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Sport

boxing

Discipline

heavyweight

Occupation

boxer

David Jones (1 April 1871 – 23 November 1899) who fought under the name Dai St. John was a Welsh heavyweight boxer. In a time before regulated championship titles, St. John used the press to proclaim himself as heavyweight champion of Wales after beating John O'Brien, a fighter he spent his early career building a rivalry against. Despite a high-profile defeat to O'Brien in 1894, St. John continued to fight, but a disastrous contest in which as a cornerman a boxer died at an unsanctioned match saw his career put in jeopardy. A successful period as a sparring partner for Australian champion Peter Jackson revived his career. After joining the British Army, he was posted to South Africa where he fought in the Second Boer World and died in heroic circumstances at the Battle of Belmont.

External links

• Wikipedia
• BoxRec
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q16066761 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.