Dick Richardson

Richard Alexander Richardson (1 June 1934 – 15 July 1999) was a professional boxer from the Maesglas area of Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. He held the European heavyweight title from March 1960 to June 1962. In all, he won 31 of his 47 professional bouts, losing 14, with two drawn. He was one of a quartet of British heavyweights in the 1950s and early 1960s, along with Henry Cooper, Joe Erskine and Brian London, who held out the possibility of a challenging for a heavyweight world title.

Richardson defeated a number of top heavyweights in his career, including; Karl Mildenberger, Bob Baker, Brian London and Hans Kalbfell.

Career He was born Richard Alexander Richardson but was known as Dick. He was tall and weighed about . He had a few amateur bouts before being called up for his national service in 1953. He served in the Royal Army Service Corps where he became boxing champion. However he was beaten in the inter-services boxing championships by Brian London, later to become British heavyweight boxing champion, and fighting under his real name of Harper. He turned professional in 1954, being managed by Wally Lesley and trained by Johnny Lewis at a gym in Blackfriars, London. In September 1954, he lost his first professional bout on points against Henry Cooper's twin brother, George, fighting under the ring name of Jim Cooper. He avenged this defeat in March 1955 with a technical knockout in the second round.

Rising up Richardson began to build up an impressive list of victories, many of them inside the distance. In May 1956 he fought fellow Welsh heavyweight, Joe Erskine, in the Maindy Stadium, Cardiff, in front of 35,000 fans. Despite knocking Erskine down in round five, Richardson lost on points. Richardson continued to look for higher-class opponents and in October 1956, he fought the ex-world champion Ezzard Charles in a fight that became a farce when the American was disqualified in round two for persistent holding. He next fought the world-class Cuban, Nino Valdes in December 1956, but was forced to retire in the eighth round.

Richardson's first title fight was for the Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavyweight Title against the holder, the Jamaican, Joe Bygraves, in Cardiff in May 1957. The fight, over fifteen rounds was a draw and Bygraves retained his title.

In October 1957, Richardson, was easily out-pointed in a bout against the future world light-heavyweight champion, Willie Pastrano. His career appeared to be faltering when he was beaten by Henry Cooper in September 1958, on a technical knockout in the fifth round, and also lost to Joe Erskine on points in June 1959.

European title However, in March 1960, he was matched against the German boxer Hans Kalbfell, for the vacant European heavyweight title. He had previously beaten Kalbfell in four rounds, in Porthcawl, and he won this bout, held in Dortmund, Germany, by a technical knockout in the thirteenth round. The defeat of Kalbfell provoked a riot amongst the German fans, and Richardson needed a police escort to reach his dressing room.

Richardson defended his European title in August 1960, against Brian London, in Porthcawl, winning by a technical knockout in the eighth round. This result provoked a brawl, when London's father and brother, with Richardson's brothers coming in to defend as the Londons invaded the ring to protest that Richardson had used his head to open a cut on his opponent.

Richardson also won a return bout against Hans Kalbfell in Dortmund in February 1961, gaining a points decision.

Richardson won the next defence of his title, in February 1962, against the German, Karl Mildenberger, by an astonishing first-round knockout. The bout was held in Dortmund. Mildenberger would fight Muhammad Ali for the world title several years later.

Richardson's fourth defence of his title was in June 1962, against the hard-punching Swede, Ingemar Johansson. Johansson had been world heavyweight champion after beating Floyd Patterson, but had subsequently lost the title to Patterson in June 1960. The bout was held in Gothenburg, Sweden in front of 50,000 spectators, and Richardson was knocked out in the eighth round.

Richardson's last fight was in March 1963, when Henry Cooper defended his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles against him at Wembley. Richardson was knocked out in the fifth round.

Retirement and death Richardson retired at the relatively early age of 28, and ran a small chain of butcher's shops in Surrey. Dick Richardson, offered advice to Newport Heavyweight David Pearce. Dick believed if David had signed with a promoter from London he would have become a World Champion. David would not leave his father due to his loyalty He died from cancer on 15 July 1999, aged 65. He was married to Betty Richardson with one son, Gary and one daughter Lyn, from whom he has six grandchildren.

In his 47 professional bouts, he won 31 (24 on knock-outs), and lost 14 (4 on knock-outs). Two of his bouts were drawn.

Boxing quotes

Professional boxing record

Loss

KO 5 26 March 1963

Loss

KO 8 17 June 1962

Win

KO 1 24 February 1962

Loss

PTS 10 5 September 1961

Win

PTS 15 18 February 1961

Win

TKO 8 29 August 1960

Loss

DQ 8 27 July 1960

Win

TKO 13 27 March 1960

Loss

PTS 10 1 December 1959

Loss

PTS 10 24 June 1959

Win

PTS 10 10 March 1959

Win

PTS 10 28 October 1958

Loss

TKO 5 3 September 1958

Win

PTS 10 9 July 1958

Win

KO 4 17 May 1958

Loss

DQ 4 25 March 1958

Win

TKO 6 3 March 1958

Loss

PTS 10 10 December 1957

Loss

PTS 10 22 October 1957

Win

TKO 4 31 July 1957

Draw

PTS 15 27 May 1957

Win

TKO 5 1 April 1957

Loss

TKO 8 4 December 1956

Win

DQ 2 2 October 1956

Win

TKO 1 16 July 1956

Win

TKO 3 7 July 1956

Loss

PTS 10 7 May 1956

Win

RTD 5 27 February 1956

Win

TKO 6 17 January 1956

Win

KO 2 6 December 1955

Win

TKO 1 7 November 1955

Win

KO 4 18 October 1955

Win

KO 2 26 September 1955

Win

TKO 3 13 September 1955

Win

TKO 3 29 August 1955

Win

PTS 8 18 July 1955

Loss

DQ 5 13 June 1955

Win

KO 2 26 April 1955

Win

TKO 3 18 April 1955

Win

TKO 2 15 March 1955

Win

TKO 3 28 February 1955

Win

TKO 4 24 January 1955

Win

KO 1 10 January 1955

Win

PTS 6 29 November 1954

Draw

PTS 6 12 October 1954

Win

KO 1 4 October 1954

Loss

PTS 6 14 September 1954

Sources & external links Obituary: Obit from the Guardian