Young Tarley

Name: Young Tarley
Birth Name: Catalino Tarley
Hometown: Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines
Birthplace: Leyte, Leyte, Philippines
Died: 1975-03-10 (Age:56)
Pro Boxer: Record

Story and picture about Tarley from The Bangalore Mirror.

Accorded full military honours Young Tarley took up professional boxing in 1932 and held the Filipino featherweight championship in 1933 and 34. He came to India in 1936 and won three titles – the bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight. At one point in his career, out of the 240 matches he fought, he won 220, drew 10 and lost the rest. He boxed in Burma, Malaysia, and Singapore. His exploits appeared in the Malay Mail in Malaysia and The Strait Times in Singapore.

His real name was Catalino Tarley. He was born in Leyte, Philippines, in 1918. It is said that he came to India with Gunboat Jack.

Young Tarley was a king in the ring but his personal life was a disaster. He married a woman named Blanche Alice Dias in Kolkata and they had a son named Catalino Anthony Tarley before they divorced.

Young Tarley later married a well-known singer named Patricia Bonner and had two boys and two girls with her. After they divorced, Patricia and the kids moved to the UK. She went on to become a radio show host with the BBC.

Blanche’s son Anthony Tarley is now 72 and lives in Australia. He remembers meeting his father only twice. “My father left us when I was three. I never saw him box. I do know that he was a good drummer.”

His eldest son with Patricia is also named Anthony Tarley. The investment banker who lives in the UK does not know much about his father either as his mother divorced him when he was about seven. He remembers him as a man who loved dancing and playing the drums at the Bowring Institute.

Young Tarley played the drums for a band called Jet Liners. He was also famous for his skipping routine and was an expert ballroom dancer.

After he retired from boxing, he faced financial problems. He sold his belts at a pawn shop in Bangalore. Rev Donald Grant says, “I remember him telling me how he didn’t have money sometimes to even buy food.” In his last days he lived with a woman named Linda Ritchie.

He used to train the boxers in the Indian Air Force and Madras Engineering Group. The boxers trained by him won hands down. He worked with MEG till his death.

He died in March 1975 and was accorded a military funeral with full honours. Ronie Pacheco says, “It’s sad that nobody bothers about his grave in Hosur Cemeter