Irascible and erratic, Dick Wipperman added a little splash of color to the heavyweight diviision during the second half of the 1960s. He was controversial and chaotic both inside and outside of the ring. His story is recounted at the following website.
WAIL! | The CBZ Journal | May 2005
Not included in the TBCB default pool, Wipperman was rated by Rocco DelSesto nearly six years ago in the Mods. I'm offering a different take on Wipperman and will explain a few areas where my assessments differ from those presented by Rocco.
First, I increased Wipperman's CF from 4/3 to 7/6. Whille it's true that almost all of his wins were against "tomato cans", in his losses he did go the distance with Buster Mathis and Oscar Bonavena.
Moreover, he was giving both Henry Cooper and Big Jim Beattie (in their first fight-1964) difficult nights before controversial calls by the refs abruptly ended matters. I'd also add that he was able to keep a young bull like Bonavena at bay for ten rounds. So he was far from just reactive to the initiatives of his opponents.
I also reduced his HP from 7 to 3. Once he hit the "big time" in late 1964, his knockouts and TKO wins were few. While half of his thirty-two victories were via early endings, all but a handful were against stiffs with a few bouts under their belts during the early part of Wipperman's career.
Another substantial difference centers around the quality of Wipperman's chin. He was rated at 4 for knockdowns and 3 for knockouts. I have him at 3 and 1 respectively. On the surface, a chin vs knockout rating of 1 for a guy who was halted in half of his fourteen losses will raise some brows, but please hear me out.
A closer look at Wipperman's stoppages indicates that while you could indeed knock him down, you couldn't put him away by way of a countout. Only hard-hitting Bob Felstein accomplished that.
Joe Frazier couldn't do it, nor could Henry Cooper. Neither could George Chuvalo in two attempts. They all halted Wipperman by way of TKO. And Wipperman went the distance with Bonavena and Beattie (twice), both of whom packed a wallop.
Finally, I upgraded his endurance from 5 to 7. Although he lost the fights, he could go the full ten rounds with Bonanvena, Beattie, and in his last fight, Buster Mathis. I thought the previous rating of 5 was a little too low and far too often resulted in TKO losses.
I did, however, keep Wipperman's conditioning rating at 9-"Head Case". It certainly is reflective of his volatile personality.
Picture below was initially posted by Bear several years ago.