Alf Jackson

A Metropolitan Police officer, Alf Jackson started boxing as a teenager and continued well into his 30s, when he was regarded as a “veteran”. He boxed as a middleweight at the 1923 ABA Championships, but was up to light-heavy when he reached the semi-final in 1924, where he was disqualified for holding. Jackson went one better in 1925 and reached the final, but lost to the experienced Harry Mitchell, who won his fourth consecutive title. Jackson eventually won the light-heavyweight crown in 1927, when he beat the Glamorgan policeman Rhys Howells. The following year, Jackson would engage in some exciting contests with the London City policeman Joe Goyder, the man he beat in the 1927 ABA semis. Jackson beat Goyder to win the 1928 Police Championship (light-heavy) and, a month later, beat him in the ABA final. Goyder got his revenge in 1929, however, when he thwarted Jackson’s attempt to win a third successive ABA title, by beating him in the semi-final.

Some sources say that Jackson was eliminated in the middleweight quarter-finals at the 1934 European Championships in Budapest, but that fighter was J. W. Jackson of the Printing and Allied Trades Boxing Club, and not policeman Alf Jackson.