What ever happened to Richie Melito?

[rudyrules]

What ever happened to this hard hittin heavy?He had a good future?

[JCS]

He paid opponents to take dives.

[Broncano]

..and then he ran into Smokin' Bert Cooper

[TerribleTim2]

I think they thought all the talk of dives would blow over. Instead the stories kept coming. Eventually they threw in the towel and went home.

I remember him being on the undercard of RJJ / R. Hall. This was after the talk of fixed fights was already out. They had Melito fight before they even opened the doors to the paying public. LOL. I guess they wanted to limit the number of spectators for that fight.

[TerribleTim2]

Are you sure that you're right about that? Boxrec doesn't show him being on the undercard of that fight. He was on the undercard of Holyfield-Ruiz I.

According to Boxrec you're correct. I'll look at a few other sources later tonight. I could of swore it went down like I described. I'm trying to think of the writer and web site that followed the Melito situation closely. Could it have been a Charles Jay or Jay Charles or something like that?

[snuffbox]

..and then he ran into Smokin' Bert Cooper

That was awesome while it lasted.

[barry]

Ditto---as with what I stated about Don Steele!

[TerribleTim2]

Here's the article you're thinking of, Terrible Tim:

http://www.totalaction.com/fightpage/cj ... lliams.htm

Thanks. Not sure how Im making an Indianapolis connection but everything else is there. I wonder if Melito was scratch from the RJJ / Hall undercard?

[overhand_right]

Didnt he disappear around the same time Thomas Williams was JAILED for taking a dive v Meliton?

Melito couldn't beat anybody. He just could not fight or punch.

[rudyrules]

Melito could punch he hurt many heavies but he just had no chin,i think through research that his manager was Bobby mitchell and when he went to jail for fight fixing his career ended as well,maybe it will restart when is Mitchell coming out?

[overhand_right]

Which heavyweights? Name one? The guys he beat weren't even club fighters. It was all set ups.

He fought ONE pro boxer in one real fight, a shot Bert Cooper and was promptly flattened, made to look like the bar room brawler wannabe tough guy that he was. His "punching" could not even qualify as amateurish & unsurprisingly made no dent on Cooper whatsoever.

Once the fix was called off Team Melito should have checked a tape of Cooper/Joe Savage and quickly escaped the arena.

[Jabby]

Melito now owns a bar in Queens, NY

[overhand_right]

In Klitschkos case, nobody had to pay any of his opponents to lay down, particularly a shopworn Orlin Norris. The winner was never in doubt. Norris just decided to get the hell out of there surprisingly early.

Melito though, the guy has been exposed in a court of law that Thomas Williams was PAID to take a dive. Considering how bad/unconvincing all his other fights were, and how he showed v Cooper that he just could not fight at all, that casts serious doubt over his career.

[Broncano]

Maybe rudy needs his memory to be refreshed http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/ ... 20732.html

[HAMMER77777]

More

[ScotsCrime]

I think this is Ritchie, teaching classes at the Title Boxing Club in Forest Hills, Queens, NY.

[Boxingguru75]

Melito looks very worried before bout. Dead my walking. Give him credit for trading but was demolished by Smokin Bert soon after. Bert certainly did that to many. One of the wilder careers in boxing history.

[margaret thatcher]

lol, melito's eyes after the first kd, looks like a guy just starting in the gym taking a punch for the first time

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

I read charles farrells book about fight fixing. In it he talks about a mob contolled fighter who was awful and he almost screwed up fixing his debut. The mob then put a hit on charles and the promoter

Don't know about the hit part but i assumed he was talking about this clown melito based on the timeline