Remember This Blast From the Past?

I didn't know he left behind three young children. :-(

 

Most of the guys who took him the distance were known for being ridiculously tough and durable. He fought Peter Buckley 3 times (he actually stopped him once, only 1 of 10 men in 300 to achieve that feat), Miguel Matthews, Rakhim Minhalieyev and Keith Jones and they stepped into a ring a combined total of 613 times but only failed to hear the final bell on 45 occasions.

I found this earlier. Apparently he dropped Junior Witter in sparring once too.

Former pro light-welterweight Georgie Smith was a close friend of Ritchie. He had this to say, “It’s really terrible news, I was devastated when I heard he had passed. Me and Ritchie were in Matchroom promotions together and were good friends. He was really tough as nails and could hit so hard for his size. We used to spar together even though I was bigger. Like a lot of us at that time, Ritchie could have been so much more (as a boxer) but he still did very well, winning an Intercontinental title and gave Junior Jones a great fight.”

“I remember when I was going to fight Richie Edwards in a Southern Area title fight and me and Ritchie Evatt were in camp together. They brought in Junior Witter for sparring, I did a few rounds with him and then Ritchie gets in and knocks Witter down! He punched so hard for his size; Junior left the camp the next day. We used to go out for a drink a bit after our fights too. I’m a West Ham man and he was from Coventry, we went out around Romford and the big game on that day was Coventry versus West Ham! He was giving it large we had to leave in the end” chuckles Georgie before adding, “I just want to give my condolences to Ritchie’s family and friends, he’ll be sadly missed and I’m absolutely gutted I never got to see him one last time. He’d lost touch with each other the last few years and now he’s gone.”

 

Yeah, Hamed beat him on points in a six rounder and then won a TKO4 over him next time round.

Says he he fought a guy called Roy Rutherford on Boxrec (I do remember the name from my days reading Boxing News) and he's also from Coventry and was born in the same year as Evatt (1973) so yeah you must be right about that. Odd that you should get two professional boxers who went to the same school, were in the same year, and fought in the same weight division.

 

They were actually classmates?! That's crazy if true.

 

Cheers. That's absolutely mental. lol. :good