He was ranked second in the world as a welterweight and fought numerous contenders, including Isaac Logart, Yama Bahama, Chico Vejar, Gasper Ortega, Luis Manuel Rodríguez, Ralph Dupas, Holly Mims and Stan Harrington.
To make ends meet, Stitch worked a full-time job at a meat packing plant while pursuing his boxing career.
[3] On November 26, 1958, Stitch faced Yama Bahama, a veteran with fifty-two professional victories, at the Exposition Center in Louisville.
[4] On December 28, 1958, Stitch defeated middleweight Chico Vejar by a ten-round unanimous decision at the Jefferson County Armory in Louisville.
[5] Stitch's first fight with Gasper Ortega, which took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 6, 1959, illustrated his character.
Stitch backed away and let Ortega's head clear: he didn't believe in taking advantage of an opponent in such a situation.
[6] On the day of the Ortega rematch, Stitch was awarded a bronze medal by the Carnegie Hero Fund for rescuing a man from drowning in the Ohio River.
On September 18, 1958, Joseph Schifcar, an Army Corps of Engineers worker, fell into the river and began to sink.
In his previous fight, Sawyer lost a ten-round unanimous decision to future World Welterweight Champion Benny Paret.
[8] On August 26, 1959, Stitch faced future World Welterweight Champion Luis Manuel Rodriguez at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Louisville.
[9] In his next fight, Stitch, now ranked eighth in the world, fought Ralph Dupas at Freedom Hall in Louisville on October 7, 1959.
[12] He returned home and was examined by two Louisville eye specialists who determined that the cataract wasn't serious enough to halt his career.
Stitch, behind on points midway thorough the fight, picked up the pace in the second half and won by a ten-round unanimous decision.
Young Ali would occasionally train at Bud Bruner's Headline Boxing Gym and test himself against the more experienced Stitch.
Rodriguez fought former World Welterweight Champion Virgil Akins at Freedom Hall in Louisville on July 6, 1960.
A Bible verse that Stitch—an elder in the Hope Presbyterian Church—had doubtless heard many times in his young life encircles the outer edges of his two Carnegie Hero Medals: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
[20][21][22] "Our grandmother came down from Detroit when our father died, and after mother passed, she kept all of us together at the house there – instead of us getting separated," Donald Stitch, the oldest child, remembered.
On October 9, 1982, Stitch boxed Charles Love in the welterweight semi-final of the USA/ABF Kentucky Association Senior Open Championship.
Stitch was the 22nd Louisvillian to be honored with a Hometown Hero mural under a program created by the Greater Louisville Pride Foundation in 2002.
Others include athletes Muhammad Ali, Pee Wee Reese, Mary T. Meagher, Pat Day, Paul Hornung, Darrell Griffith and Phil Simms, as well as Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Harland Sanders, artist Ed Hamilton, basketball coach Denny Crum, actor Victor Mature and broadcaster Diane Sawyer.
[25] Kentucky singer-songwriter Mickey Clark, who used to do morning roadwork with Stitch, paid tribute to his friend with two tracks on his 2014 album Reasons & Rhymes.