Pat O'Keeffe

{{short description|British professional boxer (1883–1960)}} {{good article}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use British English|date=February 2026}} {{DISPLAYTITLE:Pat O'Keeffe}} {{Infobox boxer | name = Pat O'Keeffe | image = Pat O'Keefe (boxeur) - btv1b6904887s.jpg | caption= O'Keeffe in a 1908 press photograph | alt = Black-and-white studio photograph of Pat O'Keeffe in boxing stance | nationality = British | height = {{height|ft=5|in=10}} | weight = Welterweight, Middleweight, Heavyweight | birth_date = {{Birth date|1883|3|17|df=y}} | birth_place = Bromley-by-Bow, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1960|08|16|1883|03|17}} | death_place = Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, England | style = Orthodox | total = 131 | wins = 88 | KO = 36 | losses = 25 | draws = 7 | no contests = 11

}}

'''Pat O'Keeffe''' (17 March 1883{{snd}}16 August 1960) was a British professional boxer who twice held the British middleweight title.{{efn|His surname was also spelled '''O'Keefe''' in contemporary newspaper coverage.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001055/19060523/203/0008|title=Boxing|date=23 May 1906|work=The Sportsman|page=8|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>}} His professional career spanned sixteen years, from 1902 to 1918, and took him to the United States and Australia between 1907 and 1910. In 1914, he challenged Georges Carpentier in a contest billed as the European heavyweight championship and was knocked out in two rounds.

During the First World War, he joined the British Army and served with the 1st Surrey Rifles, combining recruiting duties with physical training. In 1918, he won the Lonsdale Belt outright by defeating Bandsman Blake at the National Sporting Club (NSC) during a German air raid on London, becoming British middleweight champion and the first boxer to hold the middleweight Lonsdale Belt outright.

Boxing historian John Harding described O'Keeffe as one of the notable characters of his era while Arthur Frederick Bettinson, the NSC's manager, wrote that he deserved "pride of place" among the middleweights of his time, if only for his force of personality. After retiring from the ring, O'Keeffe worked as a publican and boxing trainer, and served as a founding member of the British Boxing Board of Control.

==Early life== Pat O'Keeffe was born on 17 March 1883 in Bromley-by-Bow.<ref name="R39Pat1939">{{cite web |title=1939 England and Wales Register entry for Patrick O'Keeffe |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/61596/images/tna_r39_0003_0003b_005?pId=5842942 |website=Ancestry.co.uk |publisher=The National Archives; RG 101/3B, Enumeration District Aabb, Schedule 84, Sub-schedule 1, Line 5 |access-date=28 February 2026 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index|year=1883|publisher=General Register Office|location=Poplar registration district|volume=1c|page=659}}</ref> The 1891 census recorded him in the West Ham area with his parents, Patrick and Catherine O'Keeffe, both of whom had been born in Ireland; his father was a general labourer.<ref name="1891census">{{cite web |title=1891 England Census|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/6598/images/ESSRG12_1325_1327-0438?pId=18644925|website=Ancestry.co.uk|publisher=The National Archives; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class RG12; Piece 1327; Folio 40; Page 11|access-date=28 February 2026|url-access=subscription}}</ref> By the 1901 census, the eighteen-year-old O'Keeffe was himself working as a labourer at the gas works, as was his older brother John.<ref name="1901census">{{cite web |title=1901 England Census|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7814/images/ESSRG13_1577_1577-0128?pId=25804270|website=Ancestry.co.uk|publisher=The National Archives; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901; Class RG13; Piece 1577; Folio 128; Page 5|access-date=8 March 2026|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Twenty years later, the 1911 census found him still living in West Ham, recorded as single, with his occupation given as professional boxer.<ref>{{cite web |title=1911 England Census|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/2352/images/rg14_09461_0203_03?pId=52454825|website=Ancestry.co.uk|publisher=The National Archives; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911; Class RG14; Piece 9461; Schedule 1021|access-date=28 February 2026|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Although born and raised in England, O'Keeffe identified as Irish; both his parents had been born in Ireland.<ref name="1891census" /> In a 1907 interview with ''The Washington Herald'' during his American tour, he said of himself and fellow British-based fighters Owen Moran and Johnny Summers: "We were raised in England, but we have no English blood in us."<ref name="WashingtonHerald1907">{{Cite news |title=Real Irish fighters |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-herald-some-real-irish-fi/196487016/ |work=The Washington Herald |date=6 October 1907 |page=12 |access-date=2 March 2026 |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The paper noted that all three spoke with English accents but maintained that they were Irish, "Englishmen only by the fact that their parents lived in England".<ref name="WashingtonHerald1907" />

O'Keeffe took up boxing as an amateur with the Canning Town Athletic Club in 1901. A contemporary profile described him as {{cvt|5|ft|10|in}} and {{cvt|10|st|6|lb}} at the time. After winning an open competition at the Columbia Boxing Club at the {{cvt|9|st|6|lb}} weight class, he turned professional in 1902.<ref name="BWM1905">{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004103/19050419/057/0014|title=Pat O'Keffe|date=19 April 1905|work=Boxing World and Mirror of Life|page=14|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001679/19071228/077/0013|title=One of England's best middle-weights, who is now boxing with great success in the States|date=28 December 1907|work=Illustrated Police Budget|page=13|access-date=31 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

Canning Town and the surrounding districts of West Ham had a strong connection to professional boxing; the area produced a succession of fighters who progressed from neighbourhood clubs to the national stage.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Horrall |first=Andrew |title=Popular Culture in London c.1890–1918: The Transformation of Entertainment |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0719057833 |pages=125–126}}</ref> Boxing had established itself as a widely practised sport in London's inner-city working-class districts by the turn of the century, with clubs, drill halls and public baths providing accessible venues for participation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Matthew |title=Round the London Ring: Boxing, Class and Community in Interwar London |journal=The London Journal |volume=34 |issue=2 |year=2009 |pages=139–140 |doi=10.1179/174963209X442432}}</ref>

==Professional boxing==

===Early career: 1902–1907=== [[File:Match Pat O'Keefe - Allum, Wagram, 2-3-07 - btv1b53223005n.jpg|thumb|alt=Black-and-white photograph of Pat O'Keeffe and Charlie Allum squaring off in a boxing ring at the Salle Wagram in Paris, with a referee and seated crowd visible.|O'Keeffe (left) facing Charlie Allum at the Salle Wagram, Paris, 2 March 1907. O'Keeffe won by knockout, in a bout billed as the French middleweight championship]] O'Keeffe's earliest recorded professional bout took place at the Drill Hall, Beresford Street, Woolwich, in September 1902, where he defeated Fred Lewis over six rounds.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002310/19020921/067/0010|title=Boxing at Woolwich|date=21 September 1902|work=The Referee|page=10|access-date=26 February 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In November 1902 he faced Jack Palmer twice, winning both six-round contests.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19021103/032/0002|title=Tramping to Brighton|date=3 November 1902|work=Sporting Life|page=2|access-date=12 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001055/19021113/073/0004|title=The Sportsman, Thursday, November 13, 1902|date=13 November 1902|work=The Sportsman|page=4|access-date=12 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> The following year, O'Keeffe won a welterweight competition at the Olympia, establishing himself at the lighter weights before moving up.<ref name="Harding101">{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=John |title=Lonsdale's Belt: Boxing's Most Coveted Prize |publisher=Pitch Publishing |year=2016 |page=101}}</ref> In early 1904, he competed in a {{cvt|10|st|7|lb}} tournament at the same venue. Contemporary reporting described his opening bout against Ted Percy as hard-fought, noting O'Keeffe's effective use of both hands to secure victory. He progressed to the next round but was eliminated before reaching the final.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19040104/077/0006|title=American sporting notes|date=4 January 1904|work=Sporting Life|page=6|access-date=14 February 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

By 1906, having fought many of the leading contenders for the middleweight title of England, O'Keeffe was selected to contest the championship. He defeated Mike Crawley over fifteen rounds, a victory that the boxing historian John Harding identifies as the start of O'Keeffe's first reign as champion.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19060320/083/0004|title=15 round contest|date=20 March 1906|work=Sporting Life|page=4|access-date=11 February 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref><ref name="Harding101" />

One month later, O'Keeffe defended the title against Charlie Allum, knocking him out in the sixth round.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19060424/073/0004|title=O'Keeffe defeats Allum|date=24 April 1906|work=The Sportsman|page=4|access-date=10 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> He lost the belt in his next bout to Tom Thomas at the National Sporting Club (NSC) on a narrow points decision.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19060529/045/0002|title=Closing night of the season|date=29 May 1906|work=Sporting Life|page=2|access-date=12 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Harding summarised O'Keeffe's 1906 reign as a rapid sequence in which he won, defended and then lost the middleweight title of England within six months.<ref name="Harding101" /> A year later in Paris, O'Keeffe again defeated Allum by knockout, winning {{GBPConvert|200|year=1907|r=-2|lk=on}}. The bout was billed as the French middleweight championship.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19070302/104/0007|title=Boxing Items|date=2 March 1907|work=Sporting Life|page=7|access-date=10 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

===International career: 1907–1910=== After losing the middleweight championship, O'Keeffe fought across the United States and Australia. Managed in America by Charley Harvey, he was previewed in ''The Buffalo Enquirer'' as "a tall slim lad of six feet" whose erect stance gave him "the appearance of a giraffe" and whose long arms "resemble telegraph poles". The paper noted his endurance, observing that he was one of those boxers who could fight all day and was as fresh at the finish as at the start, and that he possessed a telling right hand.<ref name="BuffaloEnquirer1907">{{Cite news |title=English Pugilists for America |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-enquirer-english-pugilists-f/196487506/ |work=The Buffalo Enquirer |date=23 August 1907 |page=8 |access-date=2 March 2026 |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In late 1907, he met Billy Papke, widely regarded as world middleweight champion,{{efn|name=titlerecognition|During this period, professional boxing had no single governing body that awarded or regulated championship titles internationally. In Britain, the National Sporting Club acted as the principal authority; in the United States, the ''Police Gazette'' and later the New York State Athletic Commission (from 1920) and the National Boxing Association (from 1921) recognised champions. The International Boxing Union, founded in France in 1913, claimed jurisdiction over European and world titles but was not universally accepted by either the British or American boxing establishments. In Australia, championship contests were organised by commercial promoters such as Hugh D. McIntosh rather than formal regulatory bodies. As a result, "world" and "European" championship claims from this era were often limited in their recognition, and the same title might be claimed by different boxers simultaneously.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Matthew |title=The Global Ring? Boxing, Mobility and Transnational Networks in the Anglophone World, 1890–1914 |journal=Journal of Global History |volume=8 |issue=2 |year=2013 |pages=231–255 |doi=10.1017/S174002281300020X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Loudcher |first1=Jean-François |last2=Day |first2=Dave |title=The International Boxing Union (1913–1946): A European Sports and/or Political Failure? |journal=The International Journal of the History of Sport |volume=30 |issue=17 |year=2013 |pages=2016–2030 |doi=10.1080/09523367.2013.828038}}</ref>}} and Harry Lewis, recognised in the United States as world welterweight champion. The bout with Papke in Philadelphia was hard-fought and ended in a draw.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19071112/072/0004|title=Ten Rounds Contest|date=12 November 1907|work=Sporting Life|page=4|access-date=13 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> He lost to Harry Lewis in Chelsea, Massachusetts, by decision.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Harry Lewis Wins |date=24 December 1907 |work=The Standard-Times |location=New Bedford, Massachusetts |page=10 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-standard-times-harry-lewis-wins/196487652/|access-date=28 February 2026 |url-access=limited |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> O'Keeffe drew further press attention in December 1907, when the ''Illustrated Police Budget'' reported that American audiences "think very highly of his abilities", noting that he had come through his six-round bout with Papke "with flying colours".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001679/19071228/077/0013|title=One of England's best middle-weights, who is now boxing with great success in the States|date=28 December 1907|work=Illustrated Police Budget|page=13|access-date=31 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

His next fight, against Willie Lewis, was originally scheduled for 19 December 1907, but police obtained an injunction against the venue in New York.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001055/19080104/133/0007 |title=Pat O'Keeffe's farewell matches |date=4 January 1908 |work=The Sportsman |page=7|access-date=11 January 2018 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> The bout went ahead on 23 December 1907. Eugene Corri, a prominent referee, later recalled that Lewis entered O'Keeffe's dressing room before the contest and mocked his apparent bulk, warning that a blow to the stomach might kill him. Corri wrote that Lewis's bluff unsettled O'Keeffe, who was subsequently "outed by bluff".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Corri|first=Eugene|title=Refereeing 1,000 Fights: Reminiscences of Boxing|publisher=Read Books|year=2008|orig-year=1915|page=134|isbn=978-1443736435}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19080109/099/0004|title=Pat O'Keeffe knocked out|date=9 January 1908|work=Sporting Life|page=4|access-date=11 February 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In February 1908, he returned to England and placed a notice in the ''Sporting Life'' declaring that he was "here for business"; the accompanying article noted that he had contracted malaria in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000893/19080203/107/0005?browse=False|title=Return of Pat O'Keeffe|date=3 February 1908|work=Sporting Life|page=5|access-date=14 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

Following the notice, fellow Canning Town boxer Steve Smith agreed to fight him at the Wonderland Français in Paris; the contest ended in a draw.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001055/19080401/083/0003|title=Contests in Paris|date=1 April 1908|work=The Sportsman|page=3|access-date=14 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Less than two weeks later at the same venue, O'Keeffe was disqualified for a low blow in the fourth round against Geoff Thorne.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19080413/114/0006|title=Contests in Paris|date=13 April 1908|work=Sporting Life|page=6|access-date=14 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Later in 1908, O'Keeffe toured Australia with Tommy Burns, the reigning world heavyweight champion, who at {{cvt|5|ft|7|in}} was often described as one of the shortest men to hold the title.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tommy Burns |url=http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/oldtimer/burns.html |website=International Boxing Hall of Fame |access-date=26 May 2026}}</ref> Burns had won the title in 1906 and defended it eleven times before losing to Jack Johnson on Boxing Day 1908; O'Keeffe acted as his second for the contest.<ref name="Harding101" /> Burns continued to act as O'Keeffe's cornerman for his Australian bouts into late 1909. A preview of O'Keeffe's contest against Bill Turner, billed as the Tasmanian heavyweight champion, noted that Burns would second him at the Stadium.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Pat O'Keefe v. Bill Turner |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/166746624 |work=Sydney Sportsman |location=Surry Hills, NSW |date=8 December 1909 |page=2 |access-date=2 March 2026 |via=Trove}}</ref>

While in Australia, O'Keeffe and Burns trained together and invited the public to watch their sparring sessions.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001499/19080827/212/0010|title=Tommy Burns J World's Champion|date=27 August 1908|work=Cornubian and Redruth Times|page=10|access-date=14 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> O'Keeffe fought six contests in Australia, often against heavier opponents, winning two, drawing one and losing three.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boxrec.com/en/boxer/32179|title=Pat O'Keeffe Bout record|website=BoxRec|access-date=29 December 2025}}</ref> One of his Australian contests, against Ed Williams in Melbourne, drew an exceptionally large and disorderly crowd at the Cyclorama. According to ''The Age'', spectators forced entry and filled every available space, with some encroaching on the ring area and police intervening to restore order. The fifteen-round contest itself was rough, with the ''Age'' describing it as "unscientific" and at times closer to wrestling than to Queensberry-rules boxing. Williams repeatedly targeted O'Keeffe's head, while O'Keeffe worked to the body and displayed notable endurance under sustained punishment. After the final gong, O'Keeffe landed a blow on Williams, apparently not having heard the bell. Williams reacted angrily and police intervened to prevent further disturbance. The referee awarded Williams the decision.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Pat O'Keefe and Ed. Williams. A Remarkable Display. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/202182351 |work=The Age |date=27 October 1908 |page=6 |via=Trove |access-date=27 February 2026}}</ref>

O'Keeffe's tour extended well beyond the eastern capitals. In February 1909, he was matched against Sam Keenan in a twenty-round contest at the Goldfields Athletic Club in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. A preview in the Kalgoorlie ''Sun'' noted his American record, including the draw with Papke, and summarised his Australian form to that point as a single loss on points to Williams, with one draw.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Pat O'Keefe v. Sam Keenan |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/211590478 |work=The Sun |location=Kalgoorlie, WA |date=14 February 1909 |page=3 |access-date=2 March 2026 |via=Trove}}</ref>

In March 1910, O'Keeffe and Williams met again at the Stadium in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney. ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' reported that both men tired at an early stage and that from the eighth round the contest became a matter of stamina and resolve. The advantage shifted repeatedly; at times O'Keeffe pressed his opponent hard, only for Williams to rally. In the eighteenth round, O'Keeffe's corner threw in the towel.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Williams Defeats Pat O'Keefe |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15143283 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=29 March 1910 |page=12 |access-date=2 March 2026 |via=Trove}}</ref>

Interviewed at Fremantle as he boarded his ship for London, O'Keeffe offered a candid assessment of his time in Australia. He said he had not fought to his proper form, attributing this to the demands of training Burns simultaneously: "While training Tommy Burns for his fights I have not been able to do myself justice. I have felt that I have had a tendency to go stale."<ref name="OKeefeInterviewed1910">{{Cite news |title=Pat O'Keefe Interviewed |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120134890 |work=Referee |location=Sydney, NSW |date=1 June 1910 |page=8 |access-date=2 March 2026 |via=Trove}}</ref> Despite this, he spoke warmly of his reception, saying the sporting public in the eastern states could not have done more for him. He described Australia as "the grandest and finest country in the world" and said he hoped to return within a few years and settle there permanently.<ref name="OKeefeInterviewed1910" />

Before O'Keeffe sailed, a committee of Sydney boxing figures had organised a farewell testimonial at the Royal Edward Hotel in Redfern, where some seventy or eighty of his friends gathered to wish him well. He was presented with a framed illuminated address and a medal.<ref>{{Cite news |title=A Pat O'Keefe Testimonial |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120137412 |work=Referee |location=Sydney, NSW |date=4 May 1910 |page=7 |access-date=2 March 2026 |via=Trove}}</ref> When he sailed for London on the R.M.S. ''Mooltan'', a large crowd of sporting people gathered at the wharf to see him off.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Departure of Pat O'Keefe |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120139936 |work=Referee |location=Sydney, NSW |date=11 May 1910 |page=7 |access-date=2 March 2026 |via=Trove}}</ref>

A retrospective account published in 1915 revealed that O'Keeffe had been in financial difficulty towards the end of his stay. Alderman Lidbury of Rookwood (later Lidcombe), who had befriended him, lent him money towards his passage home. O'Keeffe repaid the debt in full, with interest, from his first winnings after returning to England.<ref>{{Cite news |title=A Pat O'Keefe Story |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/167268349 |work=Sydney Sportsman |location=Surry Hills, NSW |date=15 December 1915 |page=6 |access-date=2 March 2026 |via=Trove}}</ref>

===Late career: 1911–1918=== After an absence of nearly three years, O'Keeffe returned to competitive boxing in England in 1911, losing on points to Eddie McGoorty over fifteen rounds.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001384/19110411/149/0006|title=Boxing: Eddie McGoorty vs Pat O'Keeffe|date=11 April 1911|work=Dublin Daily Express|page=6|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> McGoorty went on to claim the world middleweight title in 1915.{{efn|name=titlerecognition}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19150802/187/0008|title=Eddie McGoorty Defeated|date=2 August 1915|work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer|page=8|access-date=11 February 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> O'Keeffe then won his next five contests between 1911 and 1913, including two victories over Frank Mantell in the space of seven days.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000164/19130416/140/0007|title=American champion boxer makes poor appearance in London, and is easily beaten by Pat O'Keffe|date=16 April 1913|work=Dundee Courier|page=7|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> His next loss came on points to Private Jim Harris,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000321/19130211/054/0008|title=Sporting Paragraphs|date=11 February 1913|work=Nottingham Evening Post|page=8|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> a result he avenged with a twenty-round victory two months later.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000321/19130503/060/0008|title=Sporting Paragraphs|date=3 May 1913|work=Nottingham Evening Post|page=8|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

[[File:Georges Carpentier 1914.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|alt=Black-and-white photograph of Georges Carpentier|French champion Georges Carpentier, whom O'Keeffe fought in a bout billed as the European heavyweight championship in 1914]]

O'Keeffe frequently fought above his natural weight. Ahead of his 1913 challenge for the British heavyweight title, ''Sporting Life'' wrote that he was completing his preparation at Upper Warlingham with other boxers and noted his previous experience as a sparring partner to Tommy Burns.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19130730/149/0008|title=Pat O'Keeffe|date=30 July 1913|work=Sporting Life|page=8|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> On 4 August 1913, O'Keeffe challenged Bombardier Billy Wells for the British heavyweight championship. Wells outweighed him significantly and knocked him out in the fifteenth round.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000164/19130805/045/0004|title=Another Victory For Wells|date=5 August 1913|work=Dundee Courier|page=4|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

On 19 January 1914, O'Keeffe fought Georges Carpentier, the rising French champion, in a contest billed as the heavyweight championship of Europe.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19140121/259/0014|title=Carpentier's latest victory|date=21 January 1914|work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer|page=14|access-date=9 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> O'Keeffe was knocked out in two rounds. Reflecting on the defeat in the ''Sheffield Daily Telegraph'', he offered a frank assessment: "He was too big and strong for me."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000250/19140124/347/0013|title=O'Keeffe's opinion of Carpentier|date=24 January 1914|work=Sheffield Daily Telegraph|page=13|access-date=28 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

On 23 February 1914, he faced Harry Reeve for the British middleweight championship, winning on points over twenty rounds.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19140224/217/0010|title=Pat O'Keeffe defeats Harry Reeve on points|date=24 February 1914|work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer|page=10|access-date=9 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Reeve later moved up to light heavyweight and won the British title in 1916 against Dick Smith.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000290/19161031/143/0006|title=Boxing Championship|date=31 October 1916|work=Portsmouth Evening News|page=6|access-date=9 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In March 1914, O'Keeffe and Bombardier Wells boxed in a three-round sparring exhibition before King George V at the Regent's Park Barracks. The King, who was Colonel-in-Chief of the 2nd Life Guards, had dined with the regiment's officers before entering the Riding School to witness the display. The exhibition formed part of a decorated military boxing, fencing and wrestling tournament attended by nearly 1,500 officers and men. Contemporary reporting described Wells and O'Keeffe as the reigning heavyweight and middleweight champions of England, and noted that the King's applause led the reception for their exhibition.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001578/19140321/025/0007|title=Bombardier Wells, Heavy-weight Champion of England, and Pat O'Keefe, Middle-weight Champion of England, Boxing Before the King|date=21 March 1914|work=Illustrated London News|page=7|access-date=26 February 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

O'Keeffe defended his middleweight title two months later against Nicol Simpson.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19140428/173/0016 |title=Pat O'Keeffe beats Nicol Simpson on points |date=28 April 1914 |work=Daily Mirror |page=16|access-date=11 February 2018 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In May, he defended the title again by defeating Jim Sullivan, earning {{GBPConvert|650|year=1914|r=-2|lk=off}} for the contest.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000276/19140526/128/0006|title=Middle-weight belt|date=26 May 1914|work=Sheffield Evening Telegraph|page=6|access-date=9 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Writing in 1922, the manager of the NSC, Arthur Frederick Bettinson, recalled that the contest fell on the eve of the Epsom Derby and served as the principal attraction on the bill, with O'Keeffe retaining the championship at the club.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bettinson |first1=A. F. |last2=Bennison |first2=B. |title=The Home of Boxing |publisher=Odhams Press |year=1922 |location=London |pages=161–162}}</ref> thumb|left|alt=Two boxers sparring in a raised ring inside a military riding school, with King George V and uniformed officers seated at ringside watching.|Bombardier Billy Wells (left) and Pat O'Keeffe boxing in a three-round exhibition before King George V at the Regent's Park Barracks, March 1914 (''Illustrated London News'')

In March 1915, O'Keeffe knocked out heavyweight Joe Beckett in eight rounds.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000164/19150305/078/0004|title=Victory for Pat O'Keeffe|date=5 March 1915|work=Dundee Courier|page=4|access-date=11 February 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In May 1915, he met Bandsman Blake and stopped him in the thirteenth round.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000250/19150511/153/0008|title=Pat O'Keeffe wins|date=11 May 1915|work=Sheffield Daily Telegraph|page=8|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> At that stage, Blake's only previous defeat had been to Bombardier Billy Wells.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000771/19140304/173/0006|title=Wells Interviewed|date=4 March 1914|work=Liverpool Evening Express|page=6|access-date=11 February 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Writing in ''Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper'', 'Corinthian' described O'Keeffe as a methodical boxer who used a straight left and a high guard to control distance early, before increasing his pace once he had assessed an opponent.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003216/19150711/329/0016 |title=Boxers' methods. Why Pat O'Keefe became a champion. |last=Corinthian |date=11 July 1915 |work=Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper |page=16 |access-date=7 January 2026 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

O'Keeffe then faced Sullivan in a return bout, but although it was billed as a British middleweight title fight, the NSC did not endorse the contest and the Lonsdale Belt was not at stake. As the historian Kasia Boddy has observed, the NSC held such authority in recognising championships that contests held outside its jurisdiction were often regarded as unofficial, even when promoted as title fights.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boddy |first=Kasia |title=Boxing: A Cultural History |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2008 |location=London |pages=211–212}}</ref>

O'Keeffe and Sullivan met again on 21 February 1916, in a contest that fellow boxer Jimmy Wilde described as the most punishing he had ever witnessed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000250/19160222/241/0010|title=Boxing. Victory for Wells O'Keeffe|date=22 February 1916|work=Sheffield Daily Telegraph|page=10|access-date=8 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> O'Keeffe won on points over twenty rounds.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000711/19160222/200/0006|title=Boxing champions|date=22 February 1916|work=Lancashire Evening Post|page=6|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

On 22 May 1916, O'Keeffe fought Blake again at the NSC in a {{GBPConvert|500|year=1916|r=-2|lk=off}} match that went the full twenty rounds. The ''Sheffield Independent'' described the contest as "not a good one", reporting that Blake's clinching and holding drew warnings from the referee and that the verdict surprised many in the audience.<ref name="Sheffield Independent">{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001464/19160523/062/0003|title=Hard luck on Pat O'Keeffe|date=23 May 1916|work=Sheffield Independent|page=3|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> A more technical ringside account in ''The People'' credited O'Keeffe with superior ring generalship despite the scarcity of clean exchanges, noting that he refused to match Blake's early pace and instead waited in the centre of the ring to counter with his "never-failing left hand".<ref name="People1916">{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000729/19160528/279/0016|title=O'Keeffe's Tactics|date=28 May 1916|work=The People|page=16|access-date=26 February 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In the fourteenth round he landed a well-judged right cross that left Blake in serious trouble, though he lacked the strength to press home the advantage, and an old wound over his left eye was reopened in the nineteenth round as the bout drew to its close.<ref name="People1916" /> O'Keeffe lost both the championship and his Lonsdale Belt.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=John |title=Lonsdale's Belt: Boxing's Most Coveted Prize |publisher=Pitch Publishing |year=2016 |page=101}}</ref>

On 28 January 1918, O'Keeffe fought his final professional bout, defeating Blake at the NSC to win the Lonsdale Belt outright and secure an NSC pension.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001055/19180129/015/0001|title=Veteran's Lonsdale Belt|date=29 January 1918|work=The Sportsman|page=1|access-date=1 March 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> The contest took place during a heavy German air raid on London. Writing in 1922, Bettinson recalled that bombs were "falling thick and fast" while the bout was in progress and suggested that Blake's nerves were "sorely affected" by the raid overhead.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bettinson|first1=A. F.|last2=Bennison|first2=B.|title=The Home of Boxing|publisher=Odhams Press|location=London|year=1922|page=185}}</ref> Harding records that before entering the ring that night, O'Keeffe told his corner: "If I get home safely tonight I don't think I will fight again."<ref name="Harding103">{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=John |title=Lonsdale's Belt: Boxing's Most Coveted Prize |publisher=Pitch Publishing |year=2016 |page=103}}</ref>

Two days later, Bettinson paid tribute to O'Keeffe at the NSC, congratulating him as both a sportsman and a man. O'Keeffe replied that winning the Lonsdale Belt outright had been one of his ambitions and that he would now devote himself to charity and family life.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001055/19180130/058/0003|title=The Lonsdale Belt Presentation to Pat O'Keeffe|date=30 January 1918|work=The Sportsman|page=3|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

Reflecting on O'Keeffe's career, Bettinson wrote that among the middleweights of the era he "must be given pride of place", if only for his force of personality.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bettinson|first1=A. F.|last2=Bennison|first2=B.|title=The Home of Boxing|publisher=Odhams Press|location=London|year=1922|pages=192–193}}</ref> Though "never brilliant", Bettinson judged that O'Keeffe possessed a thorough knowledge of ringcraft and a generous temperament, qualities that had long endeared him to the club's members.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bettinson|first1=A. F.|last2=Bennison|first2=B.|title=The Home of Boxing|publisher=Odhams Press|location=London|year=1922|page=185}}</ref>

==Military service during the First World War== thumb|alt=Black-and-white photograph of Pat O'Keeffe standing outdoors in boxing attire, with uniformed soldiers lined up behind him|O'Keeffe instructing troops in boxing at Camberwell during the First World War During the First World War, the British Army formally integrated sport into military life as a means of maintaining fitness, morale and recruitment. Boxing held particular value; it was compared to bayonet training for its capacity to develop controlled aggression.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mason |first1=Tony |last2=Riedi |first2=Eliza |title=Sport and the Military: The British Armed Forces 1880–1960 |chapter=Sport in the Great War |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0521877145 |pages=80–90}}</ref> Championship belt holders were used as recruiting symbols, their celebrity lending weight to enlistment campaigns.<ref name="Harding90">{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=John |title=Lonsdale's Belt: Boxing's Most Coveted Prize |publisher=Pitch Publishing |year=2016 |page=90}}</ref> Harding has noted that the scale of some wartime purses attracted concern in the Army, and that General Haig subsequently issued a ban on big-money fights involving serving soldiers.<ref name="HardingHaigBan">{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=John |title=Lonsdale's Belt: Boxing's Most Coveted Prize |publisher=Pitch Publishing |year=2016 |page=102}}</ref>

By 19 September 1914, O'Keeffe had joined the British Army, enlisting with the 1st Surrey Rifles, part of the 21st County of London Regiment.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004105/19140919/088/0014|title=Young Ahearn for America|date=19 September 1914|work=Boxing World and Mirror of Life|page=14|access-date=7 May 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Contemporary reports noted that he was among a number of prominent professional boxers who had joined the colours within weeks of the declaration of war, reflecting the early mobilisation of leading sporting figures.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Boxers on War Service|work=Bradford Daily Telegraph|date=14 October 1914|page=4|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000629/19141014/102/0004?browse=False|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> He rose through the ranks from lance corporal to corporal and finished his wartime service as a sergeant.<ref name="BWM1915Policeman">{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004105/19150410/030/0007|title=Policeman Pat O'Keeffe|date=10 April 1915|work=Boxing World and Mirror of Life|page=7|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Rather than being sent overseas, he was retained on home duties, combining recruiting with the physical training of new soldiers, and also served as a military policeman.<ref name="BWM1915Policeman" /> His role in developing regimental boxing was recalled decades later in an Imperial War Museums oral history interview recorded in 1985, in which a former soldier recalled training under Sergeant "Pat O'Keeffe" for the Eastern Command and Army middleweight championships and noted that O'Keeffe excused him from duties and supervised a strict diet during preparation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Holmes, Frederick William Henry (Oral History), Sound 9147|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80008938|publisher=Imperial War Museums|date=1985|access-date=26 February 2026}}</ref> His popularity and effectiveness as a recruiter were valued by the authorities; his manager Fred Dartnell later recalled O'Keeffe's standard cry to crowds: "Join the army and you'll be a champion like me!"<ref name="Harding90" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003212/19150506/130/0008|title=Pat O'Keeffe. Humours of training in a Surrey village.|date=6 May 1915|work=Daily News (London)|page=8|access-date=8 January 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive }}</ref>

In addition to his regimental duties, O'Keeffe took part in public patriotic events. In May 1915, he appeared at a Grand Patriotic Rally at the Imperial Hall in East Dulwich, organised by the exhibitor H. Langley Merritt. The programme combined war films with live appearances, and O'Keeffe, identified as a lance corporal of the 1st Surrey Rifles, featured both on screen and in person, accompanied by the regimental band.<ref>{{Cite news|title=War Films Galore|work=Illustrated Police News|date=3 June 1915|page=6|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001680/19150603/029/0006|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Grand Patriotic Rally at East Dulwich|work=Kinematograph Weekly|date=27 May 1915|page=91|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003236/19150527/443/0091?browse=False|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> O'Keeffe also supported large-scale fundraising events. In September 1915, he appeared in a Volunteer Training Corps athletic and boxing display at Villa Park in Birmingham. The event was organised in aid of wounded soldiers, the Red Cross and Volunteer Training Corps equipment funds, and featured leading professionals including Jimmy Wilde and Johnny Basham.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Latest War News by Private Wire |date=1 September 1915 |work=Evening Despatch |page=3 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000671/19150901/076/0003 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

On another occasion at Ilford, O'Keeffe sparred with Billy Wells on behalf of the Belgian Fund. The NSC referee Eugene Corri recalled that the bout came close to a genuine fight, prompting O'Keeffe to shout: "Stop it, Billy — I'm not the ''Kaiser''!"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corri |first=Eugene |title=Thirty Years a Boxing Referee |publisher=Longmans, Green & Co. |year=1915 |location=New York |page=189 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433066622949&seq=231 |via=HathiTrust}}</ref> A detailed 1915 profile in the ''Daily News'' described O'Keeffe training in a Surrey village ahead of his bout with Bandsman Blake. The report noted that he had become a well-known local figure, with children regularly gathering to watch him spar and use gym equipment, and that he credited Army routine with maintaining his fitness. He explained that when training recruits he demonstrated the exercises himself rather than merely giving orders, which had "done me a world of good".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003212/19150506/131/0008|title=Pat O'Keeffe. Humours of training in a Surrey Village.|date=6 May 1915|work=Daily News (London)|page=8|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

O'Keeffe also featured in a wartime boxing film. Cinema listings promoted ''The Khaki Contest'' (also referred to as ''The Great Fight Film''), billed as showing him boxing Lance Corporal Jim Sullivan.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://limericklocalstudies.ie/wp-content/uploads/leader1916/LL-03-06-1916.pdf|title=The Great Fight Film|date=3 June 1916|work=Limerick Leader|access-date=29 December 2025|page=1}}</ref> As the writer Guy Deghy noted, wartime bills at the NSC commonly used service ranks, and O'Keeffe was typically announced as "Sergeant O'Keeffe".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deghy |first=Guy |title=Noble and Manly: The History of the National Sporting Club |publisher=Hutchinson |year=1956 |location=London |pages=194–195}}</ref>

O'Keeffe's recruiting activities occasionally provided lighter material for the sporting press, as in an encounter on London Bridge that became widely quoted: {{Blockquote |text=... He was recently crossing London Bridge in company with his Sergeant-Major when from the other direction came a husky, healthy youth pushing a milk cart. Said the Sergeant-Major to the Corporal, "There's a likely-looking recruit for you, Pat; try him." O'Keeffe approached the youth, prodded him in the chest with his little stick, and said: "Say, don't you want to serve your King?" "Yus," answered the youth. "How many quarts will he want?" ... |title=He wanted to serve |source=''Star Green 'un'', 17 July 1915<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001914/19150717/014/0002|title=He wanted to serve|date=17 July 1915|work=Star Green 'un|page=2|access-date=21 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> }}

thumb|left|upright=0.75|alt=Black-and-white photograph of Pat O'Keeffe handing out fruit to wounded soldiers on a boat|Pat O'Keeffe passing round fruit to wounded soldiers during a morale-boosting boat trip in the First World War

A separate report described O'Keeffe serving as a military policeman while stationed around St Albans, noting that he wore the initials "M.P." on his sleeve and remained willing to meet boxing challengers if terms could be agreed.<ref name="BWM1915Policeman"/> Army life at the regiment's base in Camberwell reportedly suited him well. With regular meals, strict routine, access to sparring partners and space to train, he was described as thriving and popular with the men.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000729/19150502/238/0017?browse=False|title=All this weeks news from the boxing rings|date=2 May 1915|work=The People|page=17|access-date=27 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

O'Keeffe helped organise morale-boosting activities for wounded soldiers, including an excursion boat trip on the Thames.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Wounded soldiers entertained on the river|work=Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News|date=7 August 1915|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001857/19150807/012/0006?browse=False|page=6|access-date=27 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> He also continued to promote boxing during the war, arranging an entertainment at Chatham that featured both service and civilian bouts.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000072/19150812/079/0011|title=Pat O'Keeffe as Promoter|date=12 August 1915|work=Illustrated Police News|page=11|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> He viewed the sport as essential for national morale and for preventing social unrest, reportedly declaring: "Give the public plenty of boxing and you'll have no Bolshevism!"<ref name="Harding90" /> {{clear}}

==Personal life== O'Keeffe married Isabella O'Neill in the West Ham registration district on 21 March 1917.<ref>{{cite book|title=England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index|year=1917|publisher=General Register Office|location=West Ham registration district, Essex|volume=4a|page=549}}</ref> The couple had two children: Eileen Isabel O'Keeffe (23 October 1917), registered in the Edmonton district in the October–December quarter of 1917 (vol. 3a, p. 605),<ref>{{cite book|title=England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index|year=1917|publisher=General Register Office|location=Edmonton registration district|volume=3a|page=605}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=1939 England and Wales Register, London, City of London, Aabb, RG 101/3B|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/61596/images/tna_r39_0003_0003b_005?pId=5842942|website=Ancestry.co.uk|publisher=The National Archives; digital image via Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.|access-date=28 February 2026|quote=Eileen O'Keeffe, born 23 October 1917|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and Patrick Alfred Leon O'Keeffe (13 December 1918), registered in the Uckfield district in the January–March quarter of 1919 (vol. 2b, p. 148).<ref>{{cite book|title=England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index|year=1919|publisher=General Register Office|location=Uckfield registration district|volume=2b|page=148}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=1939 England and Wales Register, London, City of London, Aabb, RG 101/3B|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/61596/images/tna_r39_0003_0003b_005?pId=5842942|website=Ancestry.co.uk|publisher=The National Archives; digital image via Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.|access-date=28 February 2026|quote=Patrick O'Keeffe, born 13 December 1918|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

During the Second World War, O'Keeffe's son Patrick served in the Royal Navy and was aboard {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}} when she was sunk off Gibraltar in November 1941. Patrick survived and continued his naval career.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Patrick A. L. O'Keeffe Royal Navy service record|website=Ancestry.co.uk|publisher=Ancestry|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/52599195|access-date=10 January 2026|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Later life and post-boxing career== thumb|alt=Black-and-white photograph of Pat O'Keeffe leading a physical training class for cinema usherettes on a rooftop|Pat O'Keeffe, former British boxing champion and Lonsdale Belt holder, leading physical training exercises for cinema usherettes on the roof of the Regal Cinema near Marble Arch, London, in 1929

O'Keeffe's retirement from the ring did not mark a withdrawal from public life. A 1919 profile reported that he had left the army in February of that year and was living with his wife and two children. The same account noted that he had entered the licensed trade, owning or holding interests in several public houses including premises in East Road, Hoxton, and that he was considering establishing a gymnasium.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004105/19190607/075/0011|title=A visit to Pat O'Keeffe|date=7 June 1919|work=Boxing World and Mirror of Life|page=11|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> He also contributed a regular boxing column to the ''Daily Herald''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000681/19190915/172/0008|title=Boxing by Pat O'Keeffe|date=15 September 1919|work=Daily Herald|page=8|access-date=27 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Although he publicly stated that his fighting career had ended, reports occasionally suggested a possible return, including a 1920 claim that he had received an offer for a bout in Paris; no comeback followed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004106/19200214/013/0002|title=Is Pat O'Keeffe "coming back?"|date=14 February 1920|work=Boxing World and Mirror of Life|page=2|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> A newspaper sketch later that year described him joking with spectators at an exhibition about modern purse demands compared with his own career earnings; the report remarked that he had put on weight and would have struggled to make his former fighting limit.<ref name="PatPuzzled1920">{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0006109/19201030/033/0001|title=Pat O'Keefe Puzzled|date=30 October 1920|work=Warder and Dublin Weekly Mail|page=1|access-date=1 January 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

O'Keeffe's transition from the ring to the licensed trade followed a common pattern among retired boxers of his generation. The historian Matthew Taylor has noted that professional boxing in London afforded little opportunity for lasting social advancement; most former champions remained connected to the working-class communities that had produced them, and the figure of the retired fighter facing financial difficulty was a familiar one.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Matthew |title=Round the London Ring: Boxing, Class and Community in Interwar London |journal=The London Journal |volume=34 |issue=2 |year=2009 |pages=149–150 |doi=10.1179/174963209X442432}}</ref>

O'Keeffe remained a prominent figure in British boxing during the interwar years. He was elected by a voting college of Lonsdale Belt holders to the inaugural board of the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) and served alongside fellow champions Billy Wells and Jim Driscoll in administering the Board's Benevolent Fund.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=John |title=Lonsdale's Belt: Boxing's Most Coveted Prize |publisher=Pitch Publishing |year=2016 |page=112}}</ref> He attended major championship contests, officiated at amateur tournaments, and took part in charity and exhibition bouts, including contests with Wells.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001557/19270917/179/0009|title=Wells and O'Keeffe's boxing contest at the Market Halls|date=17 September 1927|work=Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser|page=9|access-date=27 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In February 1921, he took part in a relief effort for unemployed residents in Canning Town; the ''East End News and London Shipping Chronicle'' reported that the Mayor of West Ham attended and congratulated the organisers, including O'Keeffe.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004614/19210225/031/0002|title=West Ham Unemployed|date=25 February 1921|work=East End News and London Shipping Chronicle|page=2|access-date=1 January 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In March 1922, while acting as timekeeper at a professional contest in Hoxton, he was struck by the gong and cut on the nose; he received treatment but declined to officiate for the rest of the evening.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003329/19220314/127/0006|title=Gong Injures Timekeeper|date=14 March 1922|work=Leicester Evening Mail|page=6|access-date=1 January 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> In June 1923, he was among a group of prominent boxers presented to King George V during a royal visit to the Canning Town dock district. The ''Sunday Mirror'' reported that the King and Queen Mary visited the Malvern Mission Dockland Settlement, where they watched boxing bouts and met O'Keeffe alongside Johnny Summers and Mike Honeyman.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000844/19230610/019/0003|title=The King in Dockland|date=10 June 1923|work=Sunday Mirror|page=3|access-date=1 January 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

O'Keeffe's hospitality extended to fighters visiting from abroad. In a 1929 reminiscence for the Sydney ''Referee'', the Australian boxer Dave Smith, who had beaten O'Keeffe in both their Melbourne and Sydney contests, recalled arriving in London on the ship ''Osterley'' in 1912 during the dock strike. O'Keeffe met him at Tilbury, helped him through customs, installed him at the Imperial Hotel in Russell Square, and took him round the newspaper offices to secure press coverage. Smith wrote that O'Keeffe showed him the sights of London, from Petticoat Lane to the National Sporting Club, and that the two boxed together at a benefit at the Ring in Blackfriars; the press reported their bout as the best item on the bill.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Dave Smith Says: Pat O'Keefe Showed Me London Sights |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136210462 |work=Referee |location=Sydney, NSW |date=21 August 1929 |page=11 |access-date=2 March 2026 |via=Trove}}</ref>

Alongside his continued involvement in boxing, O'Keeffe worked as a publican. Court reports from the early 1920s record him prosecuting cases arising from thefts and disturbances at licensed premises under his control in East Road, Hoxton.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001947/19230720/072/0005|title=Pat O'Keefe Prosecutes|date=20 July 1923|work=Pall Mall Gazette|page=5|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003286/19250206/157/0007|title=Boxer as Prosecutor|date=6 February 1925|work=Evening News (London)|page=7|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> His business ventures were not always successful; by the mid-1920s he faced financial difficulties connected with the licensed trade, which led to court proceedings.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003286/19250526/215/0012|title=Boxer's Unlucky Book|date=26 May 1925|work=Evening News (London)|page=12|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Despite these difficulties, he continued to work as a trainer. In October 1925, reports from Paris stated that he had been engaged as a boxing instructor to both British and French military units.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001898/19251009/173/0011|title=Pat O'Keeffe to teach two armies Boxing|date=9 October 1925|work=Nottingham Journal|page=11|access-date=27 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> By late 1926, he was managing the Olympia in Shoreditch, where boxing was shortly to be staged. Writing to the Australian boxer Jim Barron, he said that he was anxious to return and settle down in Sydney.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120092637|title=Pat O'Keefe Writes|date=8 December 1926|work=Referee|location=Sydney, NSW|page=10|access-date=1 March 2026|via=Trove}}</ref> In 1928, he trained Lieutenant C. F. Capper, a leading amateur heavyweight, ahead of the Amateur Boxing Association championships at the Royal Albert Hall.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003213/19280323/271/0015|title=Famous Amateur Boxer|date=23 March 1928|work=Daily News (London)|page=15|access-date=1 January 2026|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> His training work extended beyond boxing; in 1929 he led fitness sessions for cinema usherettes at the Regal Cinema near Marble Arch.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002396/19290731/141/0035|title=Regal usherettes keep fit|date=31 July 1929|work=The Bioscope|page=35|access-date=30 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>

In 1936, O'Keeffe and fellow Lonsdale Belt holder Tancy Lee went public with a complaint that the NSC had stopped paying their pensions. O'Keeffe said he was not in urgent need of the money himself, but that Lee was in severe financial difficulty.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000681/19360616/183/0011|title=Pensions of two old boxers stopped|date=16 June 1936|work=Daily Herald|page=11|access-date=31 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Harding noted that the later NSC organisation treated pension arrangements as separate from the former Covent Garden club's obligations, a position that left some retired belt holders disputing responsibility for payments.<ref name="HardingPensionDispute">{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=John |title=Lonsdale's Belt: Boxing's Most Coveted Prize |publisher=Pitch Publishing |year=2016 |page=220}}</ref> O'Keeffe continued to attend public boxing events into the late 1930s. In 1938, he was among a group of former champions who paraded before the audience on the opening night of the NSC's new headquarters at the Hotel Splendide in Piccadilly.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001857/19380408/046/0040|title=Danahar--Champion Within a Year: Certain Defeat turned into Glorious Victory over Cameron|date=8 April 1938|work=Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News|page=40|access-date=8 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> The 1939 Register recorded him at 3 Bartholomew Close in the City of London, with his occupation given as publican.<ref name="R39Pat1939"/> The address corresponded to the Admiral Carter public house in Bartholomew Close, where the nearby Butchers' Hall had sustained bomb damage from a Zeppelin in 1915 and was struck by a V-1 flying bomb in July 1944.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.butchershall.com/wcb/the-company/history |website=The Worshipful Company of Butchers |access-date=8 March 2026}}</ref>

In May 1960, the ''Croydon Times'' reported that O'Keeffe and his wife, who had been living at the Licensed Victuallers' Homes in Denham, Buckinghamshire, were admitted to Mount Vernon Hospital for operations.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004277/19600513/224/0016|title=Pat O'Keefe and wife in hospital|date=13 May 1960|work=Croydon Times|page=16|access-date=31 December 2025|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> O'Keeffe died there on 16 August 1960, aged 77.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000769/19600817/127/0013|title=Pat O'Keefe dead|date=17 August 1960|work=Coventry Evening Telegraph|page=13|access-date=7 January 2018|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> An obituary published three days later in ''The Times'' (No. 54,854, Royal Edition) described him as a former British middleweight champion who had retired in 1918 and noted that he was the oldest surviving British boxing champion at the time of his death.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1960-08-19/12/13.html|title=Mr Pat O'Keeffe|date=19 August 1960|work=The Times|issue=54854|page=12|access-date=26 February 2026|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Selected professional boxing record== O'Keeffe's professional boxing record can be summarised as follows:<ref name="boxrec">{{Cite web|url=https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/32179|title=Pat O'Keeffe|website=BoxRec|access-date=31 December 2025}}</ref>  {{BoxingRecordSummary |draws=7 |nc=11 |ko-wins=36 |ko-losses=9 |dec-wins=52 |dec-losses=16 |dq-wins= |dq-losses= }}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ |- ! Res. ! Opponent ! Type ! Round ! Date ! Location ! Notes<ref name="boxrec"/> |- align=center |{{yes2}}Win |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} Bandsman Jack Blake |KO |2 (20) |28 January 1918 |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} NSC, Covent Garden, London |align=left|Regains British middleweight title |- align=center |{{no2}}Loss |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} Bandsman Jack Blake |PTS |20 |22 May 1916 |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} NSC, Covent Garden, London |align=left|Loses British middleweight title |- align=center |{{yes2}}Win |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} Joe Beckett |KO |8 |5 March 1915 |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} NSC, Covent Garden, London |align=left|Beckett later became British heavyweight champion |- align=center |{{yes2}}Win |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} Jim Sullivan |PTS |20 |25 May 1914 |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} NSC, Covent Garden, London |align=left|Defends British middleweight title |- align=center |{{yes2}}Win |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} Harry Reeve |PTS |20 |23 February 1914 |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} NSC, Covent Garden, London |align=left|Wins British middleweight title |- align=center |{{no2}}Loss |align=left|{{flag icon|FRA}} Georges Carpentier |KO |2 (20) |19 January 1914 |align=left|{{flag icon|FRA}} Eldorado-Casino, Nice |align=left|European heavyweight title attempt |- align=center |{{no2}}Loss |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} Bombardier Billy Wells |KO |15 (20) |4 August 1913 |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} The Ring, Blackfriars Road, Southwark, London |align=left|British heavyweight title attempt |- align=center |{{no2}}Loss |align=left|{{flag icon|USA}} Eddie McGoorty |PTS |15 |10 April 1911 |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} NSC, Covent Garden, London |align=left|McGoorty later claimed world middleweight title |- align=center |{{no2}}Loss |align=left|{{Flag icon|AUS}} Ed Williams |PTS |15 (20) |26 October 1908 |align=left|{{Flag icon|AUS}} Cyclorama, Melbourne |align=left|Australian middleweight title attempt |- align=center |Draw |align=left|{{flag icon|USA}} Billy Papke |PTS |6 |9 November 1907 |align=left|{{flag icon|USA}} National A.C., Philadelphia |align=left|Papke widely regarded as world middleweight champion |- align=center |{{no2}}Loss |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} Tom Thomas |PTS |15 |28 May 1906 |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} NSC, Covent Garden, London |align=left|Loses middleweight championship of England |- align=center |{{yes2}}Win |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} Charlie Allum |KO |6 (15) |23 April 1906 |align=left|{{Flag icon|UK}} NSC, Covent Garden, London |align=left|Defends middleweight championship of England |- align=center |{{yes2}}Win |align=left|{{flag icon|UK}} Mike Crawley |PTS |15 |19 March 1906 |align=left|{{flag icon|UK}} NSC, Covent Garden, London |align=left|Wins middleweight championship of England |}

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{Cite book |last1=Bettinson |first1=A. F. |last2=Bennison |first2=B. |title=The Home of Boxing |publisher=Odhams Press |year=1922 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last1=Bettinson |first1=A. F. |last2=Tristram |first2=W. Outram |title=The National Sporting Club: Past and Present |publisher=Sands & Co. |year=1902 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last=Dartnell |first=Fred |title="Seconds Out!": Chats about Boxers, Their Trainers and Patrons |publisher=T. W. Laurie, Limited |year=1924 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last=Deghy |first=Guy |title=Noble and Manly: The History of the National Sporting Club |publisher=Hutchinson |year=1956 |location=London}} * {{Cite book |last=Harding |first=John |title=Lonsdale's Belt: Boxing's Most Coveted Prize |publisher=Pitch Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=978-1785312540}} * {{Cite book |last=Horrall |first=Andrew |title=Popular Culture in London C.1890-1918: The Transformation of Entertainment |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0719057833}} * {{Cite book |last=Strieble |first=Dan |title=Fight Pictures: A History of Boxing and Early Cinema |publisher=University of California Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0520940581}}

==External links== * {{boxrec|id=32179|name=Pat O'Keeffe}} * [https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA12JAI0LHY5X32VZOXXYJ9EJ3T-ARMY-BOXING-MATCH/query/Pat+Okeefe British Pathé: ''Army Boxing Match''] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRRyeZL64h4 YouTube: ''Soldier Boxer Corpl Pat O'keefe To Fight Sullivan'' (1914–1918)]

{{s-start}} {{s-ach|ach}} |- {{s-non | reason = Earns Lonsdale Belt outright }} {{s-ttl | title = British middleweight champion | years = 28 January 1918 – retires }} {{s-vac | next = Ted "Kid" Lewis}} {{s-end}}

{{Subject bar |portal1=England |portal3=Biography |commons=yes |commons-search=Category:Pat O'Keeffe|q=y |q-search=Pat O'Keeffe|d=y |d-search=Q7143866}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:OKeeffe, Pat}} Category:1883 births Category:1960 deaths Category:British male boxers Category:People from Canning Town Category:Boxers from the London Borough of Newham Category:Welterweight boxers Category:Middleweight boxers Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Military personnel from the London Borough of Newham Category:London Regiment soldiers Category:English people of Irish descent