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WHEREAS, born on September 20, 1954 in Pittsburgh, Pa's, Northside neighborhood, Rick found boxing at an early age of 11. The son of Paul Jr and Mary, boxing was in the bloodline of the future "Pride of Northside." His father boxed while in the Navy in World War II, while his grandfather did the same while in the Army in World War I; and,
WHEREAS, Rick boxed under longtime Pittsburgh boxing staple Jack Staudenmeier, a city cop, and competed in 50 amateur bouts beginning in 1967. Compiling a record of 50-26-4, Rick won multiple amateur titles such as the Golden Gloves, Diamond Belts and Silver Gloves. His final amateur bout was in Philadelphia for the Golden Gloves Championship at the Palestra; and,
WHEREAS, Rick began refereeing amateur fights in 1978 and continued throughout 2015, amassing over 1,000 fights scored. He began his work as a referee PA state penitentiaries as the sole arbiter and into the pro ranks, with a reported 500+ bouts to his record; and,
WHEREAS, Rick commanded the ring and aimed for a fair fight. Ten of the bouts consisted of world and regional titles airing on HBO, Showtime, Fox Sports and ESPN networks. The most notable bouts and boxers Rick has officiated include IBF world title fight between Paul Spadafora and Billy Irwin and Spadafora vs Renato Cornett, Juan Manuel Marquez-Robbie Peden, Monty Meza-Clay-Jose Herrera, Oba Carr, Jermain Taylor, Winky Wright, Rock Allen, Joe Mesi, Michael Grant, Brian Minto, Erickson Lubin, Ray Narh, Sammy Vasquez, Timmy Williamson, and many more including the Howard Stern Celebrity Fighter Crazy Cabby vs Studdering John at Trumps in Atlantic City; and,
WHEREAS, in 2014, one of Rick's mentors and current PA Commissioner, Andy "Kid" DePaul, sadly passed away. Rick was soon thereafter pointed to the commissioner role in 2015 by Governor Tom Wolf. Rick went to start a baseline concussion testing segment, as his main initiative was to protect the health and safety of fighters; and,
WHEREAS, A retire...
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