Heavyweight Ralph ‘Wild, Wild’ West Killed in Kentucky Night Club.

Posted on | August 11, 2008 | 2 Comments

8th August 2008.

It is with a heavy heart that I bring news of the tragic death of the popular Louisville, Kentucky based Heavyweight Ralph ‘Wild Wild’ West.

We learned of this after promoter Jarvis Robinson called Ralph to invite him to fight at his upcoming event and was told that he had been killed. Jarvis then contacted Skip Stewart, Ralph’s manager, who told Jarvis that the actual details of what happened are quite sketchy, but it appears that the fatal incident took place at a club where Ralph was working as event security. Skip has been trying to find out further information but the local Sheriffs office are currently unable to release any due to an ongoing investigation.

A distraught Jarvis payed homage to Ralph saying “He is one of the nicest people I have ever met, within a few minutes of meeting him we really got on, it felt like we had been best friends for 30 years. He fitted right
in. He came to my house and felt like one of the family. My whole family loved him. I’m going to miss him”

Ralph, whose final record is 17 Win (14 KO) – 14 Loss (11 KO) – 1 Draw, turned professional in February 1995 and won his first 10 fights before, in September 2006, losing to Oleg Maskaev, who later went on to become the WBC Heavyweight Champion.

In March 1997 Ralph returned to the ring and beat Duane Smith. He then lost his next two fights to the up and coming contenders Derrick ‘D-Train’ Jefferson and Tim Knight before getting back on track with a knockout win over Leroy Loskar, a draw with Kerry Biles and a TKO win over Darren Fansler.

The ‘big time’ beckoned Ralph in June 2004 when he got the chance to fight Leroy Childs for the IBC Continental Heavyweight title. Ralph fought his heart out for 12 grueling rounds to lose by a decision.

In 2005 another loss, this time to Ramon Hayes, started the year off, closely followed by a resounding stoppage win over Even Henderson and he ended the year off by being knocked out by Jonathan Haggler.

Ralph got off to a fine start in 2006 when he beat the highly rated Alvin Manley, but then things started to get a bit erratic, next up a loss to Adam Richards closely followed by beating Kerry Biles in a re-match.
Shannon Miller and Michael Marrone were his next opponents and both stopped him early on. He finished the year off on a high by knocking out Jed Phipps.

2007 started with a title fight against Sherman Williams but things didn’t go Ralph’s way as he was knocked out in the third round. The rest of the year was no better as he recorded three further losses, albeit against
serious competition in Calvin Brock, Alonzo Butler and Travis Walker.

2008 was a lean year for Ralph as he only got to fight once, and another knockout loss followed when he took on the formidable Mark ‘Oaktree’ Brown.

We are going to miss ‘The Big Man’ and offer our sincere condolences to Ralph’s family, his close friend and manager, Skip Stewart, and his many friends and fans.

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