Dwight Thomas Ritchie (29 February 1992 – 9 November 2019) was an Australian

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. He held the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

title from 2014 to 2015 and the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

Youth

junior middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the International Boxing Federation, IBF or ...

title in 2017.

Boxing career

Ritchie, nicknamed "The Fighting Cowboy", boxed professionally as a

and

for ten years between 2009 and 2019, compiling a professional record of 19–2 (two

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

s) and 4 no contests. Titles held by Ritchie during his career include the

Victoria State Victoria is a States and territories of Australia, state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and t ...

middleweight title, the Australian middleweight title, the

OPBF The Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) is a professional boxing organization that sanctions title fights in the Asian and Pacific region. History Oriental boxing started in the Philippines in 1946 after the Spanish-American War. While ...

middleweight title, the WBF Asia Pacific middleweight title, the

Youth junior middleweight title and the IBF Australasian junior middleweight titles. In his last ring appearance on 14 August 2019, Ritchie lost his IBF Australasian title via ten-round

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

to 14–0 Tim Tszyu at the ICC Exhibition Centre in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia.

Professional boxing record

Death

On 9 November 2019, during a sparring session with

Michael Zerafa Michael Zerafa (born 25 March 1992) is an Australian professional boxer who held the Commonwealth super-welterweight title in 2018. Boxing career Early in his career, he was the Victorian super-welterweight champion. Zerafa vs. Magomedov O ...

in preparation for Zerafa's rematch against

Jeff Horn Jeffrey Christopher Horn Jr. (born 4 February 1988) is an Australian professional boxer who held the WBO welterweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur he represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals of the light ...

the following month in Australia, Ritchie took a body shot, retreated to his own corner and collapsed. Despite attempts to save him, he could not be revived and died. He was 27 years old and left behind a wife and three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Dwight 1992 births 2019 deaths Australian male boxers Middleweight boxers Indigenous Australian boxers Accidental deaths in Victoria (Australia) Deaths due to injuries sustained in boxing Sport deaths in Australia Sportsmen from Victoria (Australia) People from Shepparton