THE HULL HERO
Looking back on the career of Ricky Beaumont, who died last month
SADLY, Boxing News has reported on a number of deaths in the last few weeks, some of them for men who were still relatively young. Another one has recently come to my attention, Hull’s Ricky Beaumont. Ricky died on December 14, 2017 aged just 62.
I remember him as a great prospect in the late 1970s. With such a good amateur pedigree, and being a noted banger, I felt sure that he would add colour to what was, at the time, a very competitive lightweight division.
Ricky came from the Hessle Road area of Hull. This had originally been a community made up of fishermen, but by the 1960s the rows of terraced houses had been replaced by council estates which produced some excellent fighters, both amateur and professional.
Ricky’s amateur club was Hull Fish Trades, one of the leading clubs in the North at that time, and responsible also for producing Malcolm Heath and Jackie Turner. All three men won ABA titles. Ricky made the ABA final three times, at three different weights, in three consecutive years.
He won the 1975 ABA title at featherweight, beating James Cooke of Tile Hill on a second-round cut eye stoppage. In 1974, he had lost out to Wayne Evans at bantamweight, and then in 1976 to Clinton Mckenzie at lightwelterweight.
He turned pro late in 1976, moving down to East Anglia to join the stable of Andy Smith. At the time, Smith had both Dave Boy Green and Joe Bugner under his wing, and he had high hopes for his new arrival. His career got off to a good start, winning six of his first seven, but he then had the misfortune to come up against Battersea’s Eric Purkis. After nailing Eric in the first round he was caught cold in the second by a big right hand and stopped.
Ricky could never settle in Cambridge and he soon became homesick. After resettling in his native town in 1978, he joined the stable of Roger Tighe, who had just taken out a managers licence and who had big plans for professional boxing in the city. Tighe was also a Hull man through and through, and he had achieved a good deal himself as a decent heavyweight in the late 1960s.
Tighe persuaded Ricky to take the game seriously and instilled firm discipline to his routine. It quickly paid off as Ricky won nine straight to become the fifth-rated lightweight in the UK. He was then selected to take part in a British title eliminator against Hartlepool’s George Feeney, the winner then to meet Dave Mccabe to determine the official challenger for the crown held by Ray Cattouse. The two had met five times as amateurs, with Feeney winning the series by three to two.
The eliminator with Feeney was, perhaps, Ricky’s finest hour. A packed Hull City Hall crowd witnessed one of the best contests seen in the city for years. Feeney was an accomplished stylist and he kept Ricky on his toes for the full 10 rounds, but it was Beaumont’s arm that was raised by referee John Coyle at the end.
Ricky had sparred regularly with ex-world champion Ken Buchanan before the fight, and he stated that this is what had made the difference between winning and losing. George went on to become British champion in 1982.
Against Mccabe, Ricky again performed in front of a capacity crowd in his home city. This time he was outsmarted by the Scotsman, who fought a cagey, defensive contest to edge home by one round in a very close bout.
Ricky fought six more times after that, winning just twice. He quit the game in 1982, aged 27.
He had his struggles in life once his boxing career had ended, but he was much loved and respected by many within his home city, and he left his own mark on its sporting heritage. He was a true man of Hull and he will not be forgotten.