Rick "Rocky" Lockridge (January 10, 1959 – February 7, 2019) was an American
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 is perhaps best known for having handed
Roger Mayweather
Roger Mayweather (April 24, 1961 – March 17, 2020) was an American boxing trainer and former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999. He was a two-division world champion, having held the WBA and ''The Ring'' super featherweight tit ...
his first defeat—a first-round knockout in just 98 seconds—earning him the WBA and lineal super featherweight titles. He later won the IBF super featherweight title. He is also known from his 2010 appearance on the A&E television series '' Intervention''.
Early life and career
Rocky Lockridge was born on January 10, 1959 in Tacoma, Washington. After relocating to Paterson, New Jersey at 19 years old in 1978, he made his debut fight in the professional ring on August 9, defeating Tony Reed by TKO. On September 18, 1979, he defeated Gerald Hayes via unanimous decision to win the New Jersey State Featherweight Championship, and on February 19, 1980, he won by TKO against Fel Clemente to win the USA Featherweight Champion title.
On October 4, 1980, he fought for the WBA World Featherweight title against
Eusebio Pedroza
Eusebio Pedroza (March 2, 1956 – March 1, 2019) was a Panamanian boxer who held the WBA and lineal featherweight championship from 1978 to 1985, having defended the title against 18 different contenders, more than any other boxer in featherwe ...
, losing by a majority decision; this defeat was Lockridge's first in the professional ring. On April 6, 1981, he retained the New Jersey featherweight title by defeating Ernesto Gonzalez by unanimous decision. On August 22, 1981, in a fight for the US featherweight title, he was knocked out by Juan Laporte. On April 24, 1983, he met Pedroza again in the fight for the WBA featherweight title, losing by unanimous decision.
On February 26, 1984, he knocked out the undefeated
Roger Mayweather
Roger Mayweather (April 24, 1961 – March 17, 2020) was an American boxing trainer and former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999. He was a two-division world champion, having held the WBA and ''The Ring'' super featherweight tit ...
in round one and won the WBA junior-lightweight world championship. After defeating Mayweather, Lockridge and his wife Carolyn moved to
Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Mount Laurel is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia and part of the South Jersey region. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 41,864, reflecting an increase of 1 ...
, where they gave birth to twin sons Ricky and Lamar on August 23, 1984. Lockridge made two successful title defenses: on June 12, 1984, he won by TKO in round eleven against Tae Jin Moon, and on January 27, 1985, he won by TKO in round six against Kamel Bou-Ali, a future WBO world junior-lightweight champion himself. However, on May 15 of the same year, he lost the title by majority decision to
Wilfredo Gómez
Wilfredo Gómez RiveraJulio César Chávez. On August 9, 1987, Lockridge defeated Barry Michael after Michael refused to continue the fight after the 8th round and won the IBF world junior-lightweight championship. On October 25, 1987, he defeated Johnny de la Rosa and defended the title, and on April 2, 1988, by unanimous decision, he defeated Harold Knight and again defended his title. On July 23, 1988, he lost by unanimous decision to Tony Lopez and lost his title to the Mexican-American. On March 5, 1989, a rematch took place between Lopez and Lockridge, which ended in the same way as the first fight. After the second defeat to Lopez, Lockridge retired following a victory against Mike Zena in 1989.
Later years and death
Lockridge returned with his family to Tacoma in 1991 – 18 months following his retirement from boxing – and he and Carolyn separated shortly thereafter due to financial stress and Rocky's drug addiction. 30 months after his original retirement, Lockridge attempted a comeback under new management in Washington, but both his fights in this period ended in losses. In 1993, Lockridge moved to Camden, New Jersey alone, and he began working as a cleaner and painter for a drum and barrel company in January 1994. Shortly after, he was arrested for burglary and sentenced to five years probation. Three years later, he was arrested on a similar charge and served 27 months in prison before being released in July 1999. Lockridge spent the following years in homelessness, living on a monthly $140 and food stamps provided by the government, as well as pocket change from panhandling. He suffered a stroke in 2006, requiring him to use a cane.
Lockridge was eventually brought by his family onto the A&E television series '' Intervention'' in 2010. A scene from the episode, in which an emotional Lockridge loudly wails, became an internet meme titled "best cry ever". Following this appearance, Lockridge spent 90 days in a facility, and had remained sober since. Lockridge died on February 7, 2019 at the age of 60, after being placed on home
hospice care
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...
following multiple strokes. He was removed from life support about one week prior to his death. In the weeks preceding his death, he was hooked to a
feeding tube
Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, herbi ...
due to an inability to swallow, and suffered from
aspiration pneumonia
Aspiration pneumonia is a type of lung infection that is due to a relatively large amount of material from the stomach or mouth entering the lungs. Signs and symptoms often include fever and cough of relatively rapid onset. Complications may inc ...
. His caretaker had set up a
GoFundMe
GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the be ...