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When Middlesbrough’s Ron Oakley moved from physical culture and body building to wrestling he acquired thousands of new fans and admiration for a body that gained him the name the “Northern Adonis,” and place on the cover of “Health and Strength” magazine in January, 1956.
This man had muscles where we didn’t know muscles existed. He turned professional in 1960, when he was twenty-four, and had already won around twenty body building titles. These included Mr Yorkshire, finalist in Mr Britain and British representative in Mr Universe.
Within a couple of years of turning professional he was in combat with the big names of the age, not just in his own middleweight division, but against much heavier men such as Billy Howes and Eric Taylor.
Around a dozen television appearances included amongst his opponents Johnny Kwango, Eddie Capelli, Peter Szakacs, Pasquale Salvo and Bert Royal, the majority of them being for Dale Martin Promotions.
Throughout the 1960s Ron remained a popular middleweight around the country. He was also an influence on other young body builders and encouraged many of them into professional wrestling. He owned and operated his own gymnasium in the St Hilda’s area of Middlesbrough, the home of many successful body builders and wrestlers.
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