Credit: BoxNation
James Beattie is already a Southampton legend. In his six-and-a-half years at the club, he scored 76 goals for the club and helped the club maintain its premier league status along with helping lead them to the 2003 FA Cup final before moving to Everton in January 2005, a change that was he didn’t want to make, endearing himself to the faithful on the south coast even more.
In recent years, James has taken on a new role that shows his high affinity with the Southampton public. He has become a keen supporter of the biggest name to come out of the city in boxing ever, Ryan Garner. He’s been in attendance at a number of Garner’s fights and featured in the official promotion for his homecoming against Michael Magnesi at St Mary’s, in which he became WBC Interim featherweight champion in June 2026:
He was a massive Southampton fan and a few of his friends are my friends, said Beattie, “Ryan and I met up one day, it was before even the first Bournemouth fight, and we got on great and he told me his story, which is interesting.
“He was fixated and really focused on making this return to the ring and being better, being a better fighter, being a better person and really utilising his amazing talent that he’s got.
Beattie also saw a lot in common between their journeys to the top of their games:
“We exchanged stories of that sort of mentality and what it takes and where I’d faced adversity stories, Glenn Hoddle said to me I’d never be a Premier League footballer. In my mind, I knew exactly where I was going and what I was doing and I think that that was the same path that Ryan was on.
“I think if he stays on the path that he’s on, he’ll become a full world champion and defend his title many times, even though there’re tremendous fighters in that category in the world. But I just think having watched him train and having got to know him, he’s a fantastic lad, but he’s hard as nails. He’s a really good technician.
“It’s just really exciting, a relationship that’s just built and built. He enjoys my presence around the camp.
“It’s a bit Rocky-like, isn’t it?”
While Ryan “The Piranha” Garner waits for his shot at the full featherweight crown, his career has already taken off and now he has the surreal feeling of having the support of and having a genuine friendship with the man who was scoring the goals for his team during his childhood.
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