Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger | |
---|---|
Data | |
Birth Name | Richard Ihetu |
Weight class | medium weight |
nationality | Nigerian |
birthday | September 14, 1929 |
place of birth | Amaigbo |
Date of death | 15th December 1971 |
style | Left delivery |
size | 1.73 m |
Combat Statistics | |
Struggles | 82 |
Victories | 60 |
Knockout victories | 27 |
Defeats | 19th |
draw | 3 |
Dick Tiger (born September 14, 1929 in Amaigbo , Nigeria as Richard Ihetu , † December 15, 1971 ) was a Nigerian boxer and world champion of the WBA and WBC middleweight and light heavyweight division.
Professional career
Dick Tiger turned professional middleweight in 1952 in Nigeria. He moved to Great Britain in 1955, where he had major acclimatization problems and lost his first four fights. In 1958, he won the Commonwealth title against Patrick McAteer.
From 1959 he fought in the USA, where he won and lost against Joey Giardello once. He was an attacking boxer with a world-class chin and a dreaded left hook.
It was not until 1962 that he was able to work out a world championship fight against Gene Fullmer through victories over the Cubans Florentino Fernandez (KO) and Henry Hank (Tiger won every round) . He beat Fullmer in October 1964, initially on points, the rematch in February 1963 ended in a draw. With the premature victory at the third meeting in August 1964 in Nigeria, he practically retired, Fullmer then ended his career.
In the next title defense, Tiger lost the title to his old rival Giardello.
After victories over Gene Fullmer's brother Don and Rubin Carter , he won the title back in October 1965 by beating Giardello on points. His next fight was a non-title fight in Germany against Peter Müller , which he won by knocking out in the third round.
In 1966 he was finally controversially defeated by the smaller Emile Griffith and lost his middleweight title. It was his last middleweight fight.
He rose to the light heavyweight division and got the chance to box against world champion José Torres in the first fight in this weight class. Tiger won the title in May 1967 by winning points, at that time he was already 37 years old.
Nevertheless, he was less competitive against the bigger boxers in this weight class, so he went heavily knocked out in his third defense of the title against Bob Foster for the first time in his career and never boxed for a title again.
After all, he was still able to beat Nino Benvenuti clearly and Frank de Paula just on points, but stopped in 1970 after a second defeat against Griffith.
In 1991, Tiger was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .
predecessor | Office | successor |
---|---|---|
--- | World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) October 23, 1962 - December 7, 1963 |
Joey Giardello |
predecessor | Office | successor |
---|---|---|
--- | World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) August 10, 1963 - December 7, 1963 |
Joey Giardello |
predecessor | Office | successor |
---|---|---|
Joey Giardello | World middleweight boxing champion ( WBA and WBC ) October 21, 1965 - April 25, 1966 |
Emile Griffith |
predecessor | Office | successor |
---|---|---|
José Torres | Light heavyweight boxing champion ( WBA and WBC ) December 16, 1966 - May 24, 1968 |
Bob Foster |
Others
He was a sympathizer and supporter of the Biafra separatists in his home country during the Biafra war . For example, he insisted that the Biafra anthem be played before his fights. After his career, he worked as a security guard at the American Museum of Natural History in New York . In July 1971 he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He returned to Nigeria and died there on December 15, 1971 at the age of 42.
literature
- Adeyinka Makinde: Dick Tiger: The Life and Times of a Boxing Immortal Word Association Publishers 2005, ISBN 1-595-71042-6
Web links
- Dick Tiger in the BoxRec database
- Photo Essay (English)
- East Side Boxing articles by Adeyinka Makinde (English)
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Tiger, Dick |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Nigerian boxer |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 14, 1929 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Amaigbo |
DATE OF DEATH | 15th December 1971 |