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.

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.

[2] He was also an impressive sportsman, as a swimmer and, like his father, a boxer; but his family's poverty decreed that he took up boxing over his singing to provide an income.

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.

[2] The injury to his right knee plagued Dyer throughout his entire boxing career, and also stopped him serving in the armed forces during the First World War.

[2] Summers though had travelled to Australia to extend his boxing campaign, and in the spring of 1914 Dyer decided to follow him abroad to challenge for his title.

Dyer stopped off en route in South Africa to play music halls in a bid to help pay his fares.

[2][13] Darcy started the fight in a flurry in an attempt to finish the contest quickly, but after little gain both fighters settled into a more evenly paced bout.

[14][15] 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.

[19] In March 1915 Dyer put his boxing on temporary hold and spent some time in New Zealand, performing on the Brennan-Fuller vaudeville circuit.

[20] 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.

[23] 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.

[29] 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.

[32] Dyer's final fight in Australia was a challenge for the Australian Welterweight title, held by Melbourne fighter Fred Kay.

[34] By the end of 1915 Dyer was through with Australia, the New Zealand Truth reporting that he had left by 4 December,[35] and by Christmas Eve the American press were already announcing his arrival in the States.

[36] In January, Dyer was in San Francisco, where he fought local boxer Bob McAllister, losing on points in a four-round contest.

[38] 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.

On 28 September 1917, Dyer fought in Boston, Massachusetts, facing local fighter Tommy Robson, in which the referee declared a draw.

[40] 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.

[41] 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.

[44] 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.

[2][45] Dyer was eventually based at Camp Grant in Illinois, but fought one more bout, a win over Walter Butler of Boston before beginning his commission.

[52] After defeating Young Battling Nelson again, in a rematch set in Binghamton,[53] 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.

[56] 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.

[2] By July Dyer was back in Britain and was fit enough to re-enter the ring, stopping Nicol Brady via technical knockout in a contest in Wallsend.

[61] One commonly held misconception connected to Dyer is that he holds the second longest unbeaten record of fights of any boxer in world history, after fellow Welsh fighter Jimmy Wilde.

[69] This information was published in Nat Fleischer's The Ring: Record Book And Boxing Encyclopedia, in which it states Dyer fought 94 unbeaten fights between 1908 and 1912.