Knock out! Briton finds he is heir to £200m fortune of US boxing legend
A MAN adopted at birth is in line for a huge inheritance after discovering his father is legendary US boxing commentator Bob Sheridan.
Simon Edwards, 40, now plans to meet Sheridan in Las Vegas after the bombshell discovery.
The credit controller unearthed the secret after tracing his roots to Ireland, where his late mother Rosemary Ruane was a hotel manager.
Bob, estimated to be worth £200million, had a brief relationship with her while visiting relatives in 1979 and she gave birth to Simon in east London a year later.
Simon was raised by adoptive parents Mike and Sue Edwards and now lives in Hitchin, Herts, where he stewards for the nonleague football team.
His extraordinary discovery has now been confirmed by DNA tests.
Bob, known as the Colonel, is one of the most famous sports commentators in the US.
He has hosted more than 10,000 fights, including the legendary Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974.
Simon revealed that, after speaking to Bob, 76, he has now been nicknamed “Colonel Junior”.
He said: “I always dreamed of being reunited with my father. As a boxing fan I knew exactly who he was. It was a big shock.
“For me, it’s amazing to just know who my dad is.” Simon, who has daughters Keira, nine, and Scarlette, four, will now meet Bob for the first time in Las Vegas when travel restrictions allow. He added: “It’s so exciting to have all these plans.”
Bob, who was lost for words when told he had a son, said: “I’d just buried my wife and felt I had nothing left. Then I got a call from an agency saying, ‘You have a son.’ And I said, ‘Are you sure?’
“They said all you have to do is see him once and you’ll know. He looks just like you, he’s a great athlete like you.The first time we spoke, I knew he was my boy.
“I’ve spent every day on the phone to Colonel Junior. I can’t wait to have a beer with him. I love him.”
Rosemary, one of nine daughters from a Catholic family, worked at a Galway hotel on land owned by Bob’s Irish family, and became friends with him. She died
in 1985.
Bob said: “She was the manager of the Shannon Shamrock Hotel where I had my farm.
“Rosie told me I could go into the hotel for whatever I needed, a shower, food, anything.
“I asked her what would she get out of it? And she said, ‘I want you’.
“It seemed like a simple request for the likes of me and we were lovers and that’s when Simon was conceived.”