Rick "Rocky" Lockridge

Rick "Rocky" Lockridge (January 10, 1959 – February 7, 2019) was an American professional boxer.<ref name="tmz"/> He is perhaps best known for having handed Roger Mayweather his first defeat—a first-round knockout in just 98 seconds—earning him the WBA and lineal super featherweight titles.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He later won the IBF super featherweight title. He is also known from his 2010 appearance on the A&E television series Intervention and a meme of him crying that was made from the show.

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,<ref name="NewJerseySports">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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, 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 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, where they gave birth to twin sons Ricky and Lamar on August 23, 1984.<ref name="NewJerseySports"/> 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.

On August 3, 1986, he lost by majority decision in the fight for the WBC world junior-lightweight title to the undefeated Julio 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.<ref name="NewJerseySports"/>

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.<ref name="NewJerseySports"/> Lockridge was eventually brought by his family onto the A&E television series Intervention in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> A scene from the episode, in which an emotional Lockridge loudly wails, became an internet meme titled "best cry ever".<ref>Template:Citation</ref> 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 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 due to an inability to swallow, and suffered from aspiration pneumonia. His caretaker had set up a GoFundMe to help cover his medical expenses.<ref name="TheBlast">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="tmz">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Lockridge is buried at Sunset Memorial Park in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
53	Template:No2Loss	44–9	Sharmba Mitchell	UD	10	Apr 22, 1992	Template:Small
52	Template:No2Loss	44–8	Rafael Ruelas	UD	10	Jan 30, 1992	Template:Small
51	Template:Yes2Win	44–7	Mike Zena	KO	8 (10)	Jun 18, 1989	Template:Small
50	Template:No2Loss	43–7	Tony Lopez	UD	12	Mar 5, 1989	Template:Small	Template:Small
49	Template:No2Loss	43–6	Tony Lopez	UD	12	Jul 23, 1988	Template:Small	Template:Small
48	Template:Yes2Win	43–5	Harold Knight	UD	15	Apr 2, 1988	Template:Small	Template:Small
47	Template:Yes2Win	42–5	Johnny De La Rosa	TKO	10 (15)	Oct 25, 1987	Template:Small	Template:Small
46	Template:Yes2Win	41–5	Barry Michael	RTD	8 (15)	Aug 9, 1987	Template:Small	Template:Small
45	Template:Yes2Win	40–5	Dennis Cruz	KO	7 (10)	May 24, 1987	Template:Small
44	Template:Yes2Win	39–5	Felipe Orozco	UD	10	Oct 22, 1986	Template:Small
43	Template:No2Loss	38–5	Julio César Chávez	MD	12	Aug 3, 1986	Template:Small	Template:Small
42	Template:Yes2Win	38–4	Efrain Nieves	TKO	3 (10)	Mar 12, 1986	Template:Small
41	Template:Yes2Win	37–4	Fernando Segura	TKO	4 (10)	Dec 18, 1985	Template:Small
40	Template:No2Loss	36–4	Wilfredo Gómez	MD	15	May 19, 1985	Template:Small	Template:Small
39	Template:Yes2Win	36–3	Kamel Bou Ali	TKO	6 (15)	Jan 27, 1985	Template:Small	Template:Small
38	Template:Yes2Win	35–3	Julio Llerena	KO	6 (10)	Jul 29, 1984	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	34–3	Tae Jin Moon	TKO	11 (15)	Jun 12, 1984	Template:Small	Template:Small
36	Template:Yes2Win	33–3	Roger Mayweather	KO	1 (15)	Feb 26, 1984	Template:Small	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	32–3	Jeff Goodwin	TKO	3 (10)	Nov 23, 1983	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	31–3	Cornelius Boza-Edwards	UD	10	Sep 9, 1983	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	30–3	Danny Cruz	TKO	1 (10)	Jul 14, 1983	Template:Small
32	Template:No2Loss	29–3	Eusebio Pedroza	UD	15	Apr 24, 1983	Template:Small	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	29–2	Alberto Collazo	TKO	9 (10)	Nov 24, 1982	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	28–2	Angel Lira	TKO	6 (10)	Sep 25, 1982	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	27–2	Miguel Angel Hernandez	TKO	3 (10)	Aug 22, 1982	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	26–2	Daniel Felizardo	KO	2 (10)	Jun 24, 1982	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	25–2	Jose Nieto	TKO	8 (10)	May 23, 1982	Template:Small
26	Template:Yes2Win	24–2	Robert Mullins	TKO	5 (10)	Apr 10, 1982	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	23–2	Jose Resendez	TKO	5 (10)	Mar 14, 1982	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	22–2	Tony Tris	UD	10	Dec 10, 1981	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	21–2	Refugio Rojas	MD	10	Nov 12, 1981	Template:Small
22	Template:No2Loss	20–2	Juan Laporte	KO	2 (12)	Aug 22, 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	20–1	Sergio Reyes	TKO	3 (10)	May 21, 1981	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	19–1	Ernesto Gonzalez	UD	12	Apr 6, 1981	Template:Small	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	18–1	Ernesto Gonzalez	KO	1 (10)	Jan 22, 1981	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	17–1	Benny Marquez	TKO	3 (10)	Dec 18, 1980	Template:Small
17	Template:No2Loss	16–1	Eusebio Pedroza	SD	15	Oct 4, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	16–0	Livio Nolasco	TKO	4 (10)	Aug 21, 1980	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	15–0	Alfonso Evans	TKO	5 (10)	Jul 13, 1980	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	14–0	Marcial Santiago	TKO	3 (8)	Jun 19, 1980	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	13–0	Joey Mayes	TKO	2 (10)	Apr 1, 1980	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	12–0	Richard Rozelle	KO	2 (10)	Mar 8, 1980	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	11–0	Fel Clemente	TKO	7 (12)	Feb 19, 1980	Template:Small	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	10–0	Sammy Goss	TKO	5 (12)	Jan 8, 1980	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	9–0	José Ortiz	KO	2 (10)	Oct 30, 1979	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	8–0	Gerald Hayes	UD	12	Sep 18, 1979	Template:Small	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	7–0	Ronnie Green	KO	1 (6)	May 31, 1979	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Francisco Maldonado	KO	2 (6)	Apr 27, 1979	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Melvin Boynton	KO	2 (6)	Apr 17, 1979	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Melvin Bethea	KO	1 (6)	Mar 13, 1979	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Tony Hernandez	TKO	1 (6)	Nov 14, 1978	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Jose Luis Lara	UD	6	Oct 5, 1978	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Tony Reed	TKO	2 (4)	Aug 9, 1978	Template:Small

See also

• List of super featherweight boxing champions
• List of WBA world champions
• List of IBF world champions

External links

• Template:Boxrec
• Rocky Lockridge - CBZ Profile