By Miles Templeton
LIVERPOOL STADIUM has hosted many great fights in its 53-year history and opened and closed with knockouts for the British title.
Topping the card on his final night of 1985, Horace Notice knocked out local hero Noel Quarless in seven rounds in a heavyweight bout. Notice won the British title the following year after stopping Hughroy Currie on the Isle of Man. When the venue opened in 1932, it replaced the old stadium, which was situated on nearby Pudsey Street. The new venue had a capacity of 4,000 and every seat was taken that opening night to see Portsmouth’s Stoker Reynolds stop another local hero, Alf Howard, in a British welterweight title eliminator.
There was a very loyal following within the city that turned up regularly every Thursday night to see whoever was on the bill, local or not. Occasionally two men from the city would reach the top at the same time and the resulting competition really brought the place to life. One of those fights took place in 1956 when Pat McAteer fought Billy Ellaway.
McAteer was the reigning British middleweight champion and hailed from Birkenhead, just across the Mersey from the city centre. He was always known as PatMac and had a large following. The McAteer family produced many fine boxers including Gordon, Les and Neill, all active during the 1960s. Pat was also the uncle of Jason McAteer, the Liverpool footballer of the 1990s. He had won his British title the previous year and he retired as undefeated British champion in 1958 after winning a Lonsdale belt.
Billy Ellaway came from Bootle, in the north of the city, and with each boy coming from opposite sides of the river, the rivalry between the two became even more intense. Ellaway had been boxing since 1950, two years older than McAteer, and both were born in 1932. Ellaway was a sensation in the stadium, never seeming to be in a boring fight. When the two met, in August 1956, Billy was ranked number two in Britain.
He had recently been defeated by Lew Lazar in a final eliminator for the McAteer title at the Stadium. McAteer watched from the ring as Lazar “put on a brilliant display of fast, skillful and efficient defensive boxing” to outclass the Liverpool fighter. All of Liverpool wanted to see McAteer fight Ellaway for the title, so Billy’s defeat was a huge disappointment not only for him, but for the entire city. However, the two men met in a 10-round bout, which served as a warm-up for McAteer’s defense against Lazar that took place two months later.
The two men squared off in the 11th 8-pounder, two pounds over the championship weight. McAteer, who was due to leave these shores shortly after to tour the United States, was in no mood to do so with another defeat under his belt. He had recently been outpointed in a 10-round bout by Tiberius Mitri in Rome and now only victory would be enough. Therefore, he received the shock of his life when Ellaway, after a fast start, caught PatMac with a big shot. BN reported that “Billy burst in with a graceful left hook and then, in an instant, struck with his right cross. Pat was hit partly on the nose and left cheek. He fell to his knees for eight, badly shaken and with blood dripping from his nose.” This was precisely the kind of hit that the fans loved Ellaway for and the stadium was in an uproar when they returned to their corners.
Over the next nine rounds, McAteer took no further risks and outclassed his rival with a championship performance. At the end of the contest, referee Fred Blakeborough inadvertently raised Ellaway’s hand. After realizing his mistake, he fixed things and raised McAteer’s hand. It had been, we reported, “the biggest Merseyside Derby battle for many years”.
