Dates

• Existence: 27 April 1943

Biography

Ricky Porter is and ex professional boxer and fairground booth fighter.

Ricky was born in London in 1943, his father was a Jamaican actor and singer and his mother moved to London from Wales to work in service during World War Two. Ricky first developed a passion for boxing aged seven, when he was taken to see British light-heavyweight champion Alex Buxton train. This event set him on his track to pursue a professional career in boxing.

Ricky attended Camberley school, where he started training with Dusty Miller, a well-known army champion boxer and World War One veteran, who taught the fundamentals of boxing to school children. In 1953, Ricky moved to Swindon with a foster family, who worked in the railways. Through them he obtained an apprenticeship in the railway after leaving school in 1959. This gave him the opportunity to join the Swindon British Railways Boxing Club, where he trained with Bill Cooling, Paddy Keeling and Paddy Burke. In his first year, Ricky reached the semi-final of the Railway’s championships, which he won a year later to become British Railways champion.

Ricky was introduced to the boxing booths by fellow boxer Joe Ceroni while looking for a sparring partner. Joe was a regular of the fairground booths, which he used to keep fit and gain sparring experience while earning some money at the same time. Joe and Ricky partnered up in the booths and played each other’s ‘gee’, staging fights to excite the crowds and encourage ‘straights’ (men in the crowd) to take on the fighters. Ricky appeared in the booths under the alias Lenny St. Clair and travelled following the fairs all over the country during the summer months. He spent the following twelve years on the booths and had around 1,000 fights all together, achieving his records of eighteen fights in one day at Nottingham Goose Fair. Ricky stopped fighting in the booths after beating Roger Menetrey in 1971 in France, who went to become the European Boxing Union (EBU) champion that same year, title that he defended five times. This gave him a level of fame in boxing that did not allow him to continue in the booths and engaging on ‘gee’ fights.

Ricky reached No. 7 in the world WBC ratings and was No.10 in Great Britain for most of his career with the exception of four years where he was No. 2.