DICK TIGER: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A BOXING IMMORTAL
THEY REMEMBER THE TIGER
"Compared to today's show off's, small talents and loadmouths, he was the picture of competence and decorum. A man who with all the grace in the world did his job beautifully, but made no loud noise about it. In otherwords, the consumate professional." Novelist Jonathan Carroll
"In boxing, someone can hit you and it's like a hammer: very sharp. And another guy hit's you and it's like hitting you with a sack of coal: shakes all your body. Thats what Dick was like, he hit you on your chin and it would hurt your ankles." Terry Downes, ex-worlds middleweight champion
"Nobody wanted to fight him." Joey Giardello, former world middleweight champion
"They don't make men like Richard Ihetu anymore." Ron Lipton, Tiger's friend and sparring partner
The orthodontically perfect smile that was Dick Tiger's.
TIGER'S BOXING TITLES
British Empire Middleweight Champion
1958 to 1960 and 1960 to 1963
Undisputed World Middleweight Champion
1962 to 1963 and 1965 to 1966
Undisputed World Lightheavyweight Champion
1966 to 1968
Tiger on the receiving end of an uppercut from Joey Giardello. Atlantic City, 1963. Giardello upset Tiger by taking a unanimous decision.
Regaining his title from Joey Giardello in October1965.
Tiger waited 22 long months for the rematch.
TIGER'S ACCOLADE'S
SPORTING AWARDS
Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year 1962 and 1965
Edward J.Neil Award for Fighter of the Year 1963 and 1966
Norwich Union Trophy for Nigerian Sportsman of the Year 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1966
CIVIL MEDAL
Member of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) 1963 (Returned in December 1969 in protest against British Government support for the Federal Republic of Nigeria during it's war against the seccessionist state of Biafra.)
HALL OF FAME
Elected to Ring magazine's Hall of Fame in 1975
Elected to the Nigerian Boxing Hall of Fame in 1987
Elected to the International Boxing Hall of fame in 1991
Winning the Worlds Middleweight Championship from Gene Fullmer. Candlestick Park, San Francisco, October23 1962.
Manager Wilfred 'Jersey' Jones towels a beaming Dick Tiger, victorious over the battered Gene Fullmer in Ibadan. This state sponsored fight was the first held in West Africa and Tiger's status as a national hero was unparalled.
Tiger Stands over the prone figure of Rubin Carter during their fight in March 1965, one of three trip's Carter made to the canvas. "It was," Carter would comment, "the worst beating that I took in my life -inside or outside of the ring."
THE SOLDIER
In December of 1967, Dick Tiger received a direct commission as a Lieutenant into the Morale Corps of the rebel Army of Biafra.
He involved himself in troop training and propaganda work.
The picture at right was taken in January 1968 in the besieged city of Port Harcourt while he was being interviewed by Lloyd Garrison, a visiting New York Times correspondent.
The 'Pugilistic Plenipotentiary.' Tiger as described by an American journalist. American sportswriter's picked up on Tiger's enthusiasm in promoting the emerging nation of Nigeria. He is with Simeon Adebo, Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations.
Tiger catches Emile Griffith with a straight right. He lost a controversial 15 round decision.
Nat Fliesher of Ring Magazine stridently opined that the verdict 'was the worst rendered in New York for many years.'
THE FAMILYMAN
Tiger enroute to a technical knockout victory over Roger Rouse in November 1967.
Battling Jose Torres and winning the Undisputed Worlds Lightheavyweight Championship at New York City's Madison Square Garden. December 16 1966.
Dick Tiger proudly displays his daughter Grace, while wife Abigail holds Victoria and Hogan Bassey carries Grace's twin, Richard. (Circa1961).He and Abigail had eight children in all.
During his life, Tiger was responsible for an extended family paying for the education of his relatives children and buying gift's.
At the height of the Nigerian Civil War, he had his immediate family airlifted to Portugal were they remained until July 1969 when he brought them over to America.
Son Richard is now an Attorney practising from 'Dick Tiger Chamber's in Aba.
BITTERSWEET
The last hurrah. Tiger's final professional bout against Emile Griffith at Madison Square Garden, July 1970.
"I thought that he would become the Jack Demsey of Nigeria. The way Jack Dempsey was thought of in America. I thought that he would probably be idolised as such, but, somehow or another, he didn't seem to get it." Tiger's friend and trainer in Liverpool, Maurice Foran to author, 1998.
Bob Foster connects to Tiger's jaw, knocking him out for the first and only time in his 81 fight career.
DICK TIGER V FRANKIE DePAULA
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN OCTOBER 25 1968
29 Year-old Frankie DePaula was a swaggering, hard punching Italian-American from Jersey City. He would have made a greater impression on boxing history if only he had treated his career in a more serious vein. His record was largely indifferent, although when he did win, he tended to overcome his opponents with the paralyzing power of his fists.
The match with Tiger was ostensibly made as an elimination bout for Bob Fosters Lightheavyweight title. But the underlying motive was for the Garden to cash in from the well supported DePaula.
After a largely non-descript first round, DePaula floored Tiger with a vicious left-right combination. Tiger fell heavily to the ring canvas but surprised the Garden audience by raising himself up. His friend, Ron Lipton screaming for him to "GET UP!," noticed the way Tiger's thigh muscles "trembled and undulated." Tiger survived the onslaught that ensued after referee, Arthur Mercante had finished administering him the mandatory standing count. He showed his champions heart by coming back and twice flooring DePaula in the third round. And while DePaula came back to knock him over in the fourth, Tiger took control and consistently hurt his opponent to the body.Both men, virtually spent by the tenth and final round, did not throw any punches in the last half minute.
It was one of the great fights at the Garden.
Frankie DePaula, gloves cocked like a gunslinger blowing away smoke emitted from a Smith and Wesson, looks at the fallen Tiger.
DePaula died in September 1970 four months after a gunman shattered his spine.
Tiger, turning away, returns the favour by sending DePaula sprawling to the canvas.
Tiger hung framed copies of each of the four knockdowns in his living room.
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