Craig Watson (boxer)

Craig Watson (born 7 February 1983) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2013. He held the Commonwealth welterweight title from 2007 to 2009; the Commonwealth super welterweight title in 2010; and the British welterweight title in 2011.

Craig Watson
Statistics
Weight(s)
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
NationalityEnglish
Born (1983-02-07) 7 February 1983
Oldham, England
StanceSouthpaw
Boxing record
Total fights27
Wins22
Wins by KO9
Losses5

Amateur boxing career

Watson first gained TV exposure after taking on Amir Khan. Going into the bout as an unknown he was heavily written off by many as Khan was the Olympic silver medalist at the time however Watson managed to score a knock down and only lost on a close points defeat.[1]

Professional boxing career

Early professional career

Watson had his first professional contest in May 2005 when he scored a 2nd round tko over Willie Valentine at the Elephant and Castle Centre in Southwark. He won his next six fights in a row before stepping up to fight fellow prospect John Fewkes (13–0) at the Leeds Town Hall. The fight gave Watson his first pro defeat as Fewkes scored a points victory over 8 rounds. Following that first loss Watson regrouped and scored wins over Robert Lloyd-Taylor (twice) and fellow prospect Michael Lomax. The victories set him up for a shot at the Commonwealth Welterweight title held by tough Namibian Ali Nuumbembe in a fight to be held on 8 December 2007 at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan.[2]

Commonwealth welterweight champion

Watson produced the performance of his career so far in Wigan, beating Nuumbembe to win the Commonwealth title when the fight was stopped in the 8th round. An early clash of heads had caused a cut above Nuumbembe's left eye which eventually got so bad that the corner could not stem the flow of blood and so handed Watson victory.[3] The newly crowned champion then travelled to Italy for his next fight to contest the vacant European Union belt against unbeaten Italian Daniele Petrucci. The fight on 8 March 2008 ended in bitter disappointment for Watson when the referee stopped it in the 3rd round with Watson saying that he was neither "mentally or physically prepared" for the fight having taken the match at short notice.[4]

Redemption came only a few months later on 24 May 2008 when Watson found himself sharing a ring with Matthew Hatton at the City of Manchester Stadium. The fight for Watson's Commonwealth title was on the undercard to Ricky Hatton's fight with Juan Lazcano in what was widely dubbed as the Hitman's homecoming following his defeat to Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas. Watson ended up winning the fight on points over 12 rounds prompting Hatton to say afterwards that Watson was the first man who had legitimately beaten him in the ring.[5] On 11 April 2009 Watson lost the title in his second defence to John O'Donnell in a close fought contest at the York Hall to register the third defeat of his career. The contest shown live on ITV4 was described as scintillating as well as a 'classic bout' by observers sitting ringside.[6]

Commonwealth light middleweight champion

Watson rebounded from the defeat to O'Donnell with a points win over journeyman Matt Scriven 21 August 2009 and a second round stoppage of Swiss boxer Riad Menasria on 27 November 2009. Prior to the fight with Menasria, Watson had said that he was looking to compete at light welterweight in the future and wanted to meet reigning British champion Lenny Daws.[7] On 19 February 2010 in his first fight of the new year, Watson travelled to Stoke and stopped former British title challenger |Barrie Jones in 4 rounds.[8] His chance to regain a championship belt came just over one full year since his defeat to O'Donnell. Given just two days notice Watson stepped in to fight Ugandan boxer Badru Lusambya on 16 April 2010 for the light middleweight version of the Commonwealth belt. Despite having never fought at the higher weight before, Watson put his opponent down 4 times in the second round to win a convincing victory.[9] Despite the victory and the title Watson chose to move back down to welterweight for his next contest on 16 July 2010 after deciding that light middleweight was perhaps not his ideal weight. His opponent, the Ghanain journeyman Stephen Okine was stopped in the fifth round on the undercard of a bill that saw former victim Matthew Hatton retain his European title with a victory over his mandatory challenger Yuriy Nuzhnenko.[10] On 6 November 2010 Watson moved back up to light middleweight at the Castle Leisure Center in Bury to register a win against Romanian journeyman Vasile Surcica, putting him down in the 8th round but failing to stop him inside the distance and scoring an 8 round points win.[11]

British welterweight champion

Watson won the British title on 19 February 2011 with a revenge win against John O'Donnell, the man he had previously lost his old Commonwealth title to. Prior to the fight Watson referred to some of the pre-fight talk between the two fighters saying "He says he will shut me up, but it's all right saying that ... we'll see what happens in the ring".[12] Watson said that following the close nature of the result against O'Donnell last time he had been consumed by bitterness and said that he was the victim of a home town decision as the fight took place in London, O'Donnells home.[12] This time however there was to be no mistake. The return against O'Donnell once again took place in London, this time at the Wembley Arena, but the judges scored 116–113, 116–112 and 117–112 all to Watson over the 12 rounds.[13] On 16 April 2011, in his first defence of the title, Watson lost to Lee Purdy. The fight, on the undercard of Amir Khan's contest with Paul McCloskey was stopped in the fifth round when Purdy caught Watson with a right hand to the jaw to win the British title.[14] Watson attempted to retain the title on 16 July 2011 with a bout in his home town of Oldham but was once again stopped in the fifth as Purdy made a successful first defence.[15]

Professional Boxing record

22 Wins (9 knockouts, 13 decisions), 5 Losses, 0 Draws[16]
Res. Record Opponent Type Rd., Time Date Location Notes
Win 22–5 Mark Lloyd RTD 4 (6), 3:00 2013-03-08 Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester, England
Win 21–5 Tomasz Mazurkiewicz PTS 6 2012-06-16 Velodrome, Manchester, England
Loss 20–5 Lee Purdy TKO 5 (12), 2:00 2011-07-16 Oldham Sports Centre, Manchester, England For BBBofC British Welterweight title.
Loss 20–4 Lee Purdy TKO 5 (12), 0:40 2011-04-16 M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England Lost BBBofC British Welterweight title.
Win 20–3 John O'Donnell UD 12 (12) 2011-02-19 Wembley Arena, Wembley, London, England Won vacant BBBofC British Welterweight title.
Win 19–3 Vasile Surcica PTS 8 (8) 2010-11-06 Castle Leisure Centre, Bury, Greater Manchester, England
Win 18–3 Stephen Okine TKO 5 (8) 2010-07-16 Bolton Arena, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England
Win 17–3 Badru Lusambya TKO 2 (12), 1:50 2010-04-16 Robin Park Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England Won vacant Commonwealth (British Empire) light middleweight title.
Win 16–3 Barrie Jones TKO 4 (6), 1:53 2010-02-19 Fenton Manor Sports Complex, Stoke, Staffordshire, England
Win 15–3 Riad Menasria TKO 2 (6), 1:55 2009-11-27 Robin Park Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England
Win 14–3 Matt Scriven PTS 6 (6) 2009-08-21 Velodrome, Manchester, England
Lose 13–3 John O'Donnell SD 12 2009-04-11 York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, England Lost Commonwealth (British Empire) Welterweight title.
Win 13–2 Matthew Hatton UD 12 2008-05-24 City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England Won Commonwealth (British Empire) Welterweight title.
Loss 12–2 Daniele Petrucci TKO 3 (12) 2008-03-08 Tendastrisce, Rome, Italy For vacant EBU (EU) Welterweight title.
Win 12–1 Paulus Ali Nuumbembe TKO 8 (12), 0:24 2007-12-08 Robin Park Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England Won Commonwealth (British Empire) Welterweight title.
Win 11–1 Frederic Gosset PTS 6 2007-10-26 Robin Park Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England
Win 10–1 Robert Lloyd-Taylor TKO 1 (6), 0:37 2007-09-21 York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, England
Win 9–1 Michael Lomax PTS 8 2007-07-06 Robin Park Centre, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England
Win 8–1 Robert Lloyd-Taylor PTS 8 2007-04-27 Wembley Arena, Wembley, London, England
Loss 7–1 John Fewkes PTS 8 2007-02-09 Town Hall, Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Win 7–0 Rakhim Mingaleyev PTS 6 2006-11-25 Holiday Inn, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Win 6–0 Michael Medor TKO 1 (4), 2:49 2006-09-29 George Carnall Leisure Centre, Davyhulme, England
Win 5–0 Serhiy Tertyy PTS 6 2005-11-04 York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, England
Win 4–0 Ben Hudson PTS 4 2005-10-07 York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, England
Win 3–0 Billy Smith PTS 4 2005-07-16 Bolton Arena, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England
Win 2–0 Jus Wallie PTS 4 2005-06-19 York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, England
Win 1–0 Willie Valentine RTD 2 (4), 3:00 2005-06-19 Elephant & Castle Centre , Southwark, London, England

References

Preceded by
Kell Brook
vacated
British welterweight champion
19 February 2011 – 16 April 2011
Succeeded by
Lee Purdy
Preceded by
Anthony Small
vacated
Commonwealth Light Middleweight Champion
16 April 2010 –
Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by
Ali Nuumbembe
Commonwealth Welterweight Champion
8 December 2007 – 11 April 2009
Succeeded by
John O'Donnell
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