Dick Tiger biography
Dick Tiger, unique identify Richard Ihetu, (born August 14, 1929, Amaigbo, Orlu, Nigeria—died December 14, 1971, Nigeria), Nigerian skilled boxer, world middleweight (160 kilos) and light-weight heavyweight (175 kilos) champion in the course of the Nineteen Sixties.
Tiger realized to field from British navy officers stationed in Nigeria. He started his skilled boxing profession in his homeland in 1952, and he went on to win the Nigerian championship within the middleweight division earlier than shifting to England in 1955. After dropping his first 4 matches in England, he improved quickly, and on March 27, 1958, he knocked out Pat McAteer to turn out to be the British Commonwealth middleweight champion.
In 1959 Tiger started boxing within the United States, and on October 23, 1962, he received the World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight title with a 15-round determination (a combat whose final result is decided by judges’ scoring) over American Gene Fullmer. Tiger retained the title with a 15-round draw with Fullmer on February 23, 1963, and with a Seventh-round knockout of Fullmer on August 10, 1963. Tiger misplaced the title on December 7, 1963, in a 15-round determination to American Joey Giardello (Carmen Orlando Telleli). On October 21, 1965, Tiger regained the championship by defeating Giardello in a 15-round determination. He misplaced the title once more on April 25, 1966, when Emile Griffith of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the world welterweight (147 kilos) champion, moved up in weight class and received a 15-round determination.
Tiger himself moved up in weight class for his subsequent bout, on December 16, 1966, during which he received a 15-round determination for the world gentle heavyweight title over Puerto Rican José Torres. The following yr, Tiger was profitable in two gentle heavyweight championship matches, outpointing Torres in 15 rounds on May 16 and knocking out American Roger Rouse in 12 rounds on November 17. Tiger misplaced the sunshine heavyweight title when he was knocked out by American Bob Foster within the fourth spherical on May 24, 1968. That was the one time in his profession that Tiger misplaced by knockout, and it additionally was his final championship bout. In his final combat, on July 15, 1970, he misplaced a 10-round determination to Griffith. He lastly introduced his retirement in July 1971, after preventing in 81 skilled matches, profitable 61 (26 by knockouts), dropping 17, and drawing 3. Tiger was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.
During the civil conflict in Biafra (May 1967–January 1970), Tiger served within the Biafran military as a public relations officer. He misplaced his property and cash within the conflict and returned to New York, the place he was employed as a safety guard at a museum. When he turned terminally ailing with most cancers, he returned to Nigeria to dwell out the rest of his life.