Dicky Eklund is an American former boxer. He is famous as “The Pride of Lowell” and a winner of the USA New England welterweight title two times. Eklund got recognition being the personal trainer of his half-brother Micky Ward, a former professional boxer who held the WBU light welterweight title in 2000.
Additionally, both the Eklund brothers gained massive fame following the release of the 2010’s biopic The Fighters. The movie chronicles the struggle of Dick and his half-bro Micky as a boxer. Let’s know who played Dicky and Micky in the film?
Besides his professional accomplishments, what about his love life? Is Dicky married or dating someone? Here is everything you need to know about him!
When Was Dicky Eklund Born? About His Early Life
Dicky was born to Richard Eklund Sr. and Alice Eklund-Ward on the 3rd of May, 1957 in Lowell, Massachusetts. So, as of 2022, he is 65 years of age and his birth sign is Taurus. Dicky’s real name is Richard Eklund Jr.
Talking about his family background, there is not much information on his paternal side but his maternal family originally belongs to Ireland. In the time period 1850, they flew up to Boston, Massachusetts to remove their poverty and then settled in the city named Lowell.
Dicky Eklund with his mother. Source: His InstagramSo, Lowell is the place where his parents engaged and had him as their eldest son. Plus he is from white Ethnic background and holds American nationality.
Dicky Eklund Has Seven Sisters
As per the movie ‘The Fighter’, based on Dicky and his half-brother’s boxing career, Eklund has altogether seven sisters. They are Cindy Eklund, Alice Eklund, Cathy Eklund, Phyllis Eklund, Donna Eklund Jaynes, Gail Eklund, and Sherri Ward.
Additionally, Eklund has one half-brother named Micky Ward from his mother’s second marriage. Micky (aka George Michael Ward Jr.) is also a famous American boxer just like him. Besides, he is the father of a daughter with his wife Charlene Fleming.
Eklund’s Career As A Professional Boxer
On August 26, 1975, Dicky started his career as a professional boxer. Before he was an amateur boxer. He was mostly noticed when he fight against a boxer named Sugar Ray Leonard on July 18, 1978, at the Hynes Memorial Auditorium. He was knocked down twice in this particular match with Sugar Ray. Although Dicky made a huge comeback later, Sugar ultimately won the match by unanimous decision.
He played several matches in the 10 years of his boxing career, where he had 29 total fights all over the United States of America. Among 29 matches, he won 19 and lost in 10. Some of the matches that carried credits for his career are the match against Canada’s Allan Clarke on August 25, 1981, his victory against James Luckas to win USA New England Welterweight Title, and many more.
Dicky Is Also A Personal Trainer and Boxing Coach
After the end of his career as a professional boxer in 1985, Eklund started working as a trainer for his half-sibling Micky Ward. And, until the second retirement of Micky in June of 2003, Eklund served him as a trainer. The two brothers from the same mother throughout their lives lived together enhancing each other’s careers.
Dicky Eklund with his half-brother Micky Ward. Source: His InstagramAfter Micky’s retirement, his elder half-brother Eklund choose to be a boxing coach in other places. As a result, he moved to New England to continue his career as a personal trainer and boxing coach.
But, Dicky keeps coming back to the US with his half-brother to attend some motivational events organized for students. Time and again, the former boxer appears as a motivational speaker too.
Dicky Eklund and the Movie ‘The Fighter’
In 2010, Audiences of America got to watch the movie named ‘The Fighter’ which gained a high rating of 91% on the website named Rotten Tomatoes. Then, what could be its connection with the former American boxer Dicky Eklund?
As a matter of fact, the movie is actually based on the professional lives of Dicky and his half-brother Micky Ward. So, it’s obvious that it has narrated their ups and downs moments in their boxing career. In this biographical sports film, Christian Bale portrayed Dicky Eklund and Mark Wahlberg played the character of Micky Ward.
Regarding the movie ‘The Fighter’, Mark Wahlberg in his interview said,
“I’ve seen every boxing movie ever made. I’m also a huge fight fan. I fought a little bit when I was younger. Nobody in my opinion, and some of the greatest movies ever made – you talk Raging Bull and Rocky I saw 30 times – but the fighting just wasn’t as realistic as what we hope to achieve and accomplish in this movie.”
From this statement, we can see how much effort the whole team made to make this movie. As a result, the movie tasted great commercial success.
Dicky Eklund’s Personal Life: How Many Children Does He Have?
Eklund has altogether three children. He has two sons named Dicky Eklund Jr. and Tommy Eklund. Eklund Jr. is an actor by profession. He is best known for his roles in Patriot Day, and Black Mass. On the other side, Tommy’s profession is not known yet.
Dicky Eklund with his daughter and son. Source: His InstagramLikewise, Dicky has a daughter named Kerry Anne with whom he has shared a lovely photo on his Instagram account. Apart from these, we are unknown about the mother of his children. Further, there isn’t anything whether the boxer was married to his kids’ mother or not.
Who is Dicky Dating in 2022? His New GF
The former boxer and coach is in a romantic relationship with his girlfriend Leslie Stephens. He started dating Leslie in 2005. Since then, they are together as there are no cases coming out regarding their breakup.
In one of his unofficial Facebook accounts, Dicky updated his relationship status with Stephens in 2018, which shows that till 2018 they were on good terms. Whatever their relationship today, we can say that a boxing coach could see a soulmate in Stevens and experience the best moment of his life with her.
His Social Media Presence
The personal trainer has his Facebook account on his own name ‘Dick Eklund’ with altogether 4.8k friends. He last updated his status on his Facebook page on May 25, 2021.
Eklund is also on Instagram under the username @dickeklund. He has 2,445 followers on his Insta account and has posted 19 posts till today.
What is Dicky Eklund’s Net Worth?
As earlier mentioned, Dicky, throughout his life worked as a boxer and personal trainer. And he is also in England to process his coaching career. Hence, it won’t be wrong if said that he has earned a large amount of money from his profession.
So, if we believe some of the websites, his net worth is $18 million.