Ernie Vickers was the final particular person with an expert ring file to die in motion
AS November 11 was Armistice Day this week is an acceptable time to replicate on the profession of an excellent skilled who gave his life for his nation. The various boxers who died through the two world wars have been often referenced in BN over the previous 50 or so years, and there have been some glorious fighters, together with champions, amongst them. The demise of Ernie Vickers of Middlesbrough through the Falklands Battle is far much less well-known. November 11 is a time to recollect the members of the armed forces who served and died however Ernie was completely different, for he was a Service provider seaman. The Service provider Navy commemorate their useless on September 3, the anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World Battle, however as Ernie is, so far as I can confirm, the final particular person to die in motion who had an expert ring profession. As he died on the Atlantic Conveyor, alongside males from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and the Royal Navy, I’m going to recollect him in the present day.
Ernie got here from a sporting household. His father was the Military dash champion in 1910 and a brother turned the Yorkshire champion for the quarter-mile. One other brother, Jack, boxed professionally between 1951 and 1956. Born in 1924, Ernie served with the Royal Navy as a teenager, serving on HMS Ganges through the latter years of World Battle Two, and he gained 11 of his 12 newbie contests. In 1949 he turned professional, teaming up with supervisor Eric Munro, who was an excellent boxer himself earlier than the battle, swapping gloves with the likes of Bobby Magee, Len Beynon and George Marsden. Middlesbrough’s “Mr Boxing” guided his younger cost to 26 victories from his first 27 contests as Vickers fought his approach via a sequence of 4 and six-rounders on reveals in and round his native North-East. He boxed often on the Engineers’ Membership in West Hartlepool, on the Hendon Cricket Floor, Sunderland, and he was, in fact, an amazing favorite in his hometown on the Farrer Avenue Stadium.
To compile such a protracted successful streak was fairly uncommon within the late Forties and Nineteen Fifties, and Ernie appeared like fairly a prospect and he was a famous puncher, with many opponents being knocked spark out. Manchester’s Cyclone Kelly put his run to an finish, outpointing Ernie on the New St James Corridor, Newcastle in November 1950. Kelly had been round for donkey’s years at this level, having begun his skilled profession within the late Twenties, and he knew each trick within the ebook.
One other veteran of virtually 20 years, Ginger Roberts of Whitley Bay, was Ernie’s opponent within the largest contest of Ernie’s profession. The 2 males met for the Northern Space welterweight title, over 12 rounds, in December 1951 at Vickers’ native stadium at Farrer Avenue. For Roberts it was the ultimate contest in a 154-bout profession, and he gave it all the things. He was the reigning titleholder, having picked up the title the earlier 12 months by outpointing Billy Exley, and he was the favorite going into the bout. He couldn’t compete with the youth of his opponent, nor with the rugged, bustling and energetic assaults that Vickers produced all through the 12 rounds and Ernie turned the champion by a transparent margin on the finish of the competition. Inside every week of the bout his supervisor was promoting Vickers as obtainable to battle any welterweight in Europe. When Ernie left the sport in 1956, he had gained 39 of his 58 contests in a protracted profession.
It was no shock that he was prepared, at 57, to go midway world wide in Britain’s newest battle effort, practically 40 years after he had first finished so, and it was a tragedy that he died so removed from house.
