By Miles Templeton
LIVERPOOL STADIUM performed host to many nice fights in its 53-year historical past and opened and closed with British title eliminators.
At the highest of the invoice on its final night time in 1985, Horace Notice knocked out local hero Noel Quarless in seven rounds in a heavyweight bout. Notice went on to win the British title the next yr after stopping Hughroy Currie on the Isle of Man. When the corridor opened in 1932 it changed the outdated Stadium, which had been located in close by Pudsey Street. The new venue may seat 4,000 and each seat was taken on that opening night time to observe Stoker Reynolds of Portsmouth cease one other local hero, Alf Howard, in an eliminator for the British welterweight title.
There was a very loyal battle crowd inside the metropolis who frequently turned up every Thursday night to observe whoever was on the invoice, local or not. Occasionally, two males from the town reached the highest at the identical time and the resultant contest actually introduced the venue to life. One such bout occurred in 1956 when Pat McAteer fought Billy Ellaway.
McAteer was the reigning British middleweight champion and got here from Birkenhead, simply throughout the Mersey from the town centre. He was at all times referred to as PatMac and he had a large following. The McAteer household produced many good boxers, together with Gordon, Les and Neill, all lively through the Sixties. Pat was additionally the uncle of Jason McAteer, the Liverpool footballer of the Nineties. He had received his British title the earlier yr and he retired as undefeated British champion in 1958 after successful a Lonsdale Belt outright.
Billy Ellaway got here from Bootle, within the north of the town, and with every lad coming from reverse sides of the river the rivalry between the 2 turned much more intense. Ellaway had been boxing since 1950, two years longer than McAteer, and they had been each born in 1932. Ellaway was a sensation at the Stadium, he by no means appeared to be in a uninteresting battle. When the 2 met, in August 1956, Billy was rated quantity two in Britain.
He had lately been crushed by Lew Lazar in a ultimate eliminator for McAteer’s title at the Stadium. McAteer watched from ringside as Lazar “served up a sparkling display of speedy, skilful and efficient defensive boxing” to outpoint the Liverpool fighter. All Liverpool needed to see McAteer battle Ellaway for the title, so Billy’s defeat was a nice disappointment not solely to himself, however to the entire metropolis. Nevertheless, the 2 males had been matched in a 10-rounder, which served as a warm-up for McAteer’s defence towards Lazar which occurred two months later.
The two males met at 11st 8lbs, two kilos above the championship weight. McAteer, who was as a consequence of go away these shores for an American tour shortly afterwards, was in no temper to take action with one other defeat beneath his belt. He had lately been outpointed in a 10-rounder by Tiberio Mitri in Rome and solely victory would now do. He obtained the shock of his life, subsequently, when Ellaway, after a quick begin, caught PatMac with a huge shot. BN reported that “Billy broke inside with a neat left hook, and then within a flash he struck with his haymaker right cross. It caught Pat partly on the nose and the left cheek. Down he went on one knee for eight, severely shaken, and with blood trickling down his nose”. This was simply the type of punch for which the followers cherished Ellaway and the Stadium was in uproar as they returned to their corners.
For the subsequent 9 rounds McAteer took no extra possibilities, outboxing his rival with a champion’s efficiency. At the tip of the competition referee Fred Blakeborough inadvertently raised Ellaway’s hand. After realising his mistake, he put issues proper and raised the hand of McAteer. It had been, we reported, “Merseyside’s greatest Derby battle for many years.”
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