Eddie Spence vs. Pete Riccitelli (1st meeting)

Pete Riccitelli 172 lbs lost to Eddie Spence 170 lbs by UD in round 10 of 10

• Date: 1969-01-02
• Location: Exposition Building, Portland, Maine, USA

'PORTLAND EXPRESS - January 3, 1969: 'RICCITELLI DOWN FOUR TIMES IN LOSING GO WITH SPENCE.''''




There's no question about Pete Riccitelli's jaw this morning, nor about his courage either, following his loss by a unanimous decision to nonchalant Eddie Spence of Pittsfield, Mass. in a ten round main bout at the Portland Exposition Building last night.


Pete, who weighed 172 to Spence's 169 1/2, was knocked down four times by hard punches to the chin but the jaw broken in a bout last July withstood the battering.


The effects of Riccitelli's long layoff was apparent. His timing was awry; he couldn't go ten three-minute rounds at top speed and he was hit by punches from which he'd normally flit away. And he still doesn't throw a straight right.


Spence, a relaxed individual, reacted however with lighting speed to Riccitelli's defensive lapses. He floored Pete in the third with two rights and a left hook to the head, dropped him twice in the eighth, the first time with a short right to the chin and the second with a flurry of punches to the head, and had him down again in the ninth with another barrage to the head.


Riccitelli's left jabs and snapping left hooks won three rounds, and a bolo to the body caused Spence some trouble, but Pete took a bad beating in the last three rounds. However, he continued to throw punches to the end to win the respect, if not the affection of most of the 2,000 fans in attendance.