{"id":568465,"date":"2026-05-06T02:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/568465\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T02:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:19:14","slug":"tributes-as-birmingham-boxing-godfather-paddy-benson-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/568465\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes as Birmingham boxing ‘godfather’ Paddy Benson dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quiet simply, he was Rocky Balboa\u2019s Mickey with a Brummie Irish accent<\/p>\n

15:20, 05 May 2026Updated 16:11, 05 May 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One of the true Godfathers of Birmingham boxing has died.<\/p>\n

Paddy Benson, a man whose Small Heath<\/a> gym produced some of the city\u2019s greatest fighters, passed away at Heartlands Hospital on Thursday aged 91. Quiet simply, he was Rocky Balboa\u2019s Mickey with a Brummie Irish accent.<\/p>\n

Last night one of his many champs, Shaun Cogan, an Irish ABA champ and fine pro, was among the first to pay tribute to the legend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf not for him, hundreds of kids would\u2019ve ended up in jail, me included,\u201d a clearly emotional Cogan said. \u201cHe made Small Heath one of the best clubs in the country. Everyone in that gym still speaks about Paddy, no one had a bad word to say about him.<\/p>\n

Read more: YouGov poll predicts Reform UK domination in West Midlands – and a chink of light for Labour<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe helped so many people over the years, literally thousands. Me and him won the same Irish title 32 years apart and it had his name on the cup. He took it round Birmingham<\/a> to show all his friends. What an absolute legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The great fighters spawned by Small Heath included Matt Macklin, the Ramsay brothers, Wayne Elcock, Rowan Williams and Frankie Gavin. Shakan Pitters, British light-heavyweight champ, is also a Small Heath old boy. So was former tough contender Willie Wright.<\/p>\n

Their achievements speak volumes for Benson\u2019s ability. Macklin was British and European middleweight champ and fought for the world title three times. Elcock was British middleweight champ. Paul and Mark Ramsay are looked on as amateur boxing royalty.<\/p>\n

Both mopped up at schoolboy and junior level, gained senior ABA lightweight titles \u2013 Mark in 1989, Paul in 1990, represented their country on scores of occasions and gained medals in multi-nations tournaments around the world.<\/p>\n

Gavin is considered one of the country\u2019s best ever amateurs after becoming our first ever world championships gold medallist. Flyweight Williams fought in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.<\/p>\n

On Facebook, grandson Paddy Jnr, who is keeping the Benson boxing legacy burning, posted on Thursday: \u201cMy grandfather, Pat Benson, passed away this morning.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Without him, our club would not exist. He created the legacy that we are now a part of. An incredible man, a community man and a great coach. A genuine boxing man. He changed the lives of thousands of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He certainly did that.<\/p>\n

Birmingham fight figures have flooded the internet with tributes.<\/p>\n

Former English champ Sean Davis described Paddy as \u201cone of the godfathers of Birmingham boxing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Griffiths gave an insight into the man\u2019s ruggedness: \u201cMy fondest memory of Pat was at a venue in Brum a number of years back and he was having a heated debate with a well-known boxing guy on the door. He just came out with a statement saying, \u2018I\u2019ll take you outside now and sort this\u2019. I just smiled to myself and thought, wow for a small man he\u2019s got big balls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paddy Benson was old school and his methods worked. Many of today\u2019s high-profile trainers inherit champs, he created them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quiet simply, he was Rocky Balboa\u2019s Mickey with a Brummie Irish accent 15:20, 05 May 2026Updated 16:11, 05…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-568465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}