It was July 29, 1997 at the
Theater in Madison Square
Gardens and my friends and I
had great seats.
It was time to see what this
so-called "contender"
had......and because I had
done my homework, I had
serious doubts that he had
much.
Right out of the
professional gate, he had
won 18 in a row, 11 coming
by way of first round KO, an
auspicious and, therefore,
financially promising, start
for a white heavyweight out
of the NYC area. Only one of
his fights went the distance
and that was a 4 rounder
against the immortal Edgar
Turpin (0-6). In all, he had
fought 29 rounds in 18
fights or 1.6 rounds per
fight. "He" was Richie
Melito and he was nicknamed
"The Bull." He was from
Flushing but unlike another
fighter from that part of
the city, I sensed he was
more flash in the pan than
"flash."
W.C.Fields
As best I could determine,
none of his first 11
opponents had even won a
fight. Finally, he fought
unknown Chris Gingrow who
sported a 1-7 record and
dispatched him in one round.
He then stepped up and
fought tough journeyman Mike
Dixon in Memphis and did
manage a TKO in 4, his
longest fight to date.
Dixon, 16-30, had been in
with some top level fighters
so maybe "The Bull" had a
little something after all.
When he fought John Carlo in
his 17th fight, it
incredibly marked the first
time he fought an opponent
with a winning record. This
fight was for the vacant New
York State Heavyweight
Title. Carlo's record was
14-2 with his only
distinguishing
accomplishment being a first
round KO over a completely
shot Leon Spinks in 1994. It
was one of Spink's last
fights. Other than that, he
had fought no-names with
losing records. In fact,
Carlo's most recent fight
leading up to July 29, 1997
had been against Eddie Curry
(13-27-2), out of South
Carolina, whom he beat by a
TKO in the third round.
Tellingly, Curry had lost 17
fights inside of three.
Completing the circle, he
had even lost to Leon Spinks
by DQ in 1994. Prior to"The
Bull," Carlo had been
defeated by one Derek Amos
(14-22) and Crawford
Grimsley, both by first
round knockout. Grimsley's
claim to immortality would
be a 13 second knockout at
the hands of Jimmy "From
Down Under" Thunder! At any
rate, "The Bull" beat Carlo
by KO in the second round
and "captured" the crown.
Clearly, Richie "The Bull"
Melito's 18-0 record had
been over-hyped by fighting
17inferior opponents with
losing records....most had
never even won a
professional fight. Their
combined won-lost record was
60-138. Now being a betting
man, I had done my due
diligence....my research. I
was poised like a hawk
waiting to swoop down on its
prey (which in this case
consisted of several
ill-mannered and, more
importantly, ill-informed
"fans" from Flushing eager
to depart with their money.
As W. C. Fields once said,
"never give a sucker an even
break" and I wasn't's about
to. This looked to be a
profitable affair because lo
and behold, Richie's
opponent this night would
not be the usual warm body;
oh no, it would be tough and
seasoned Bert Cooper. The
fight would be for Melito's
New York State Heavyweight
Crown.
Smokin' Bert, a Philadelphia
fighter always coming
forward and throwing
menacing left hooks, had
literally fought just about
all the name opponents you
could come up with.
Arguably, there have been
few fighters who have fought
a tougher schedule. Unlike
Melito's fans, it's a good
thing I knew about the
qualitative nature of his
record going into the MSG
Theater that hot July
evening. Appearing on
Coopers resume were names
like Moorer, Holyfield,
Tillman, Foreman, Carl
Williams, Mercer, Orlin
Norris, Bowe, Weaver, Joe
Hipp, Corrie Sanders, Larry
Donald, Jeremy Williams,
Chris Byrd, and many more.
Interestingly, he beat
prospect Willie DeWitt in
1987 in Regina, SK, Canada.
DeWitt, a Canadian 1984
Olympic silver medalist was
undefeated (14-0-1)and
highly touted, but was badly
beaten by the rugged Cooper
who put him down four times
before taking him out in the
second. DeWitt had been
exposed. I sensed deja vu
all over again.
Leading up to this bout,
Cooper had lost to Samson
Po'uha by 4 round TKO and
many thought he was washed
up as a competitive fighter
having fought too many wars.
Fortunately for me, Melito's
camp and many of his fans
thought so as well. Bert
outweighed the short and
not-so-ripped Melito by 13
pounds coming in at 232, an
observation that did not
escape me. However,
something did pass by me and
these were rumors allegedly
circulating that the "fix"
may have been in but the
rumors later proved to be
false. But false or not, had
I known this, all bets would
have been off. The word
"fix" to a better is like
the cucifx to Dracula.
But ignorance is bliss and
my bets were in. It was
fight time.The boxers were
given their instructions by
Referee Wayne Kelly, the
bell rang, and before you
could say "deja vu," it was
all over in just one minute
and fifty one seconds.
Cooper had annihilated
Melito with a number of
savage shots finishing him
off with a debilitating blow
to the body that put him
down and out. The squat
Bull's lack of seasoning had
been exposed! But then, I
already knew it would be.
And that's no bull.
As we left the MSG Theater
and headed for cocktails and
an expensive steak dinner in
one of Manhattan's better
restaurants, I lighted up my
cigar, this time a 60 ring
maduro Playa Gloria, series
7. As I collected and
counted my winnings. I
looked over to my friends,
winked and said, "hey, this
one is on me tonight."
To Richie Melito's credit,
he later fought against much
better competition and won
nine straight, eight by way
of stoppage. In fact, he won
the vacant IBF/USBA
Northeastern Regional
Heavyweight Title in April
1999 by beating Don Steele
(45-6) in Myrtle Beach, SC.
His last fight, according to
my research, was a win
against Damon Reed (41-11)
in 2001. I don't know
whether he plans to fight
again. If so, I wish him
well.
Bert Cooper would go on to
lose five of his last seven
bouts before closing out his
career in a TKO loss to
Darroll "Doing Damage"
Wilson in 2002. He would
finish with a record of 36 -
22 with 30 ko's
"It's morally wrong to allow
a sucker to keep his money."
W.C. Fields
Ted Sares is a syndicated
writer and boxing historian
who can be reached at
tedsares@adelphia.com
