Richie Wenton

Richie Wenton (born 28 October 1967) is a British former boxer who was British super bantamweight champion between 1994 and 1996, and fought for European and World titles.

Career Born in Liverpool, Wenton was encouraged to take up boxing by his father who had been a successful amateur boxer in his time, and won several schoolboy and junior tiles as an amateur as well as representing England.

He made his professional debut in December 1988 with a second-round knockout of Miguel Matthews, and won 16 of his first 17 fights, including a win over Mark Johnson, the only loss to Floyd Churchill in September 1992.

Wenton considered quitting boxing but returned to the ring in October, retiring in the fifth round against Neil Swain, later stating "My mind just wasn't there. I had a lot of things on my mind tonight, a lot on my shoulders." In March 1995 he made a successful defence of his British title, stopping Paul Lloyd in the fifth round, and dedicating the win to Stone.

In June 1995 Wenton won by unanimous decision over Guianan Michael Parris to take the WBO Inter-Continental super bantamweight title.

He made a second defence of the British title in February 1996, beating Wilson Docherty on points to win the Lonsdale Belt outright.

He then moved up to featherweight, and in May 2000 fought for the vacant British title against Gary Thornhill; Thornhill stopped him in the eighth round, but failed a drugs test after the fight, testing positive for amphetamines, and was stripped of the title at a hearing four months later. Wenton faced Commonwealth champion Scott Harrison in March 2001 with both titles at stake; Wenton was stopped in the fourth round, and subsequently retired from boxing. He also acted as UK coordinator for the World Boxing Foundation.

Richie's brother Nigel was also a professional boxer.