Also known as Cliff Belshaw, Al Fuller
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Quietly Brilliant
Cliff Belshaw was born on 11th January, 1915, the son of William Belshaw, a funeral director. Althought the second son of the family he was older than his wrestling brothers Jack and Arthur.
Cliff learnt to wrestle at the gym of William Charnock, where he was joined by his brothers Jack and Arthur. Charnock wrestled professionally as Pop Saxton, and when he died the Belshaw brothers were pallbearers at his funeral.
In 1938 Cliff was working as a motor mechanic and taxi driver, and the following year as war approached he joined the auxillary fire service.. It was 1940 before we found the name Cliff Belshaw on a wrestling poster. However, since 1935, when Cliff would have been twenty years old, a man known as Al Fuller, allegedly a Canadian, had been busy on the wrestling circuit. In 1940 the Lancashire Evening Post announced that Cliff Belshaw was the wrestler previously known as Al Fuller.
The name Belshaw was used throughout the 1940s, brother Jack adopting the name Beaumont and Arthur the name of Ricardo. The brothers often appeared on the same bill and it was not uncommon for Cliff to wrestle brother Jack. Any pretence of them being unrelated ended in 1949 when we find Cliff Belshaw using the name Cliff Beaumont.
Cliff was a master of the understated art of wrestling. He used balance and leverage to outmanoeuvre opponents of all weights. His skill made it all look so effortless as he deftly changed strategy to strike when least expected. In November, 1946 we find Cliff billed as British welterweightchampion, and confusingly sometimes middleweightchampion. That was champion in northern parts of England, but in those days, of course, there was no nationally recognised set of champions. He was still billed as champion in 1948. In 1959 we again find a brief reference to Cliff as British welterweight champion but cannot confirm if this was nationally recognisd.
That wasn’t the only championship recognition. In 1952 we find him billed as European welterweight champion, again at a time another wrestler, Alan Colbeck, was also billed as champion. On 22nd December, 1952, Cliff used the name of Cliff Taylor and defeated Gilbert LeDuc in Paris to win the world welterweight title.
Championship recognition or not, there was no argument that Cliff was one of Britain’s most skilled lighter men from the 1940s until his retirement. No greater praise could come than that from Billy Robinson, who said Cliff was one of the top three wrestlers at his weight in the country, the other two being Jack Dempsey and Mel Riss.
Eddie Rose told us, “I wrestled Cliff a couple of times in the early days and he totally outclassed me. He was so fast and agile and knew every move in the book including a variety of Wigan style submission holds. Top class wrestler.”
Yet it’s the fans’ memories that are most important. Ballymoss told us, “He was a clever scientific wrestler who always gave his opponent plenty of problems. He rather lacked charisma but certainly possessed abundant skill.” Williamr, “Cliff Belshaw was the best welterweight I ever saw.”
A moment of historic significance came on 9th November 1955 when Cliff was matched against a young Bert Royal at West Ham Baths in ITV’s first televised wrestling show. This was to be the first of more than a dozen television appearances with the last being a few months before his retirement, against Peter Rann at Wembley. Cliff retired from wrestling the following year, 1966.
Often overlooked by fans who were attracted to those with a more flamboyant style there were few who could entertain with the pure science of wrestling in the way that Cliff Belshaw could.
Cliff Belshaw died in 1979.
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