Adrian Diaconu
Adrian Diaconu (born 9 June 1978) is a Romanian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2011, and held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 2008 to 2009. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the middleweight division at the 1999 World Championships and bronze in the light-middleweight division at the 1999 World Championships. Diaconu was born in Ploieşti, Romania, but fought out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada for almost his entire professional career.
Adrian Diaconu | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Diaconu in 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | The Shark | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight(s) | Light-heavyweight | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Reach | 183 cm (72 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Romanian | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Ploieşti, Romania | 9 June 1978||||||||||||||||||||||
Stance | Orthodox | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Boxing record | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Total fights | 30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Wins | 27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Wins by KO | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Losses | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Amateur career
Diaconu represented Romania at the 2000 Olympics in the middleweight division.
Olympic results:
- Defeated Abdelghani Kinzi (Algeria) 19-9
- Defeated Jitender Kumar (India) 12-3
- Lost to Jorge Gutiérrez (Cuba) KO 1
Professional career
Following the Olympics, Diaconu made his professional debut in 2001 and competed exclusively as a light-heavyweight. He went on to claim his first regional championship in June 2005, winning the Canadian title with a fifth-round knockout of Conal MacPhee. In December 2005, Diaconu won the WBC International title after knocking out Darrin Humphrey. This was followed up with a knockout against Max Heyman to win the vacant WBA–NABA and TAB titles. Diaconu vacated his Canadian title to face Rico Hoye in an eliminator bout for the WBC world title. He was successful, dominating Hoye until a stoppage in the third round. With the win, Diaconu became the mandatory challenger for then-WBC world champion Chad Dawson.[1]
In October 2007, world cruiserweight champion David Haye described Diaconu as "the future of the light-heavyweight division."[2]
On 19 April 2008, Diaconu won the vacant WBC interim title with a twelve-round unanimous decision over Chris Henry in Romania; the interim title being at stake to allow full titleholder Chad Dawson to make an optional defense after a previous injury-produced delay to the mandated bout. In July 2008, Diaconu was elevated to full champion status after Dawson vacated the title to avoid having to make the mandatory defense.[3]
Diaconu suffered his first career defeat and lost the WBC world title to Jean Pascal on 19 June 2009, and would go on to lose a rematch on 11 December 2009. Diaconu's final professional fight took place on 21 May 2011 against former champion Chad Dawson, who defeated Diaconu by a unanimous decision after twelve rounds. A year later, Diaconu announced his retirement from boxing, stating that he felt a lack of support from his promoters, Interbox, to organize significant fights for him.[4]
Professional boxing record
30 fights | 27 wins | 3 losses |
By knockout | 15 | 0 |
By decision | 12 | 3 |
No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
30 | Loss | 27–3 | UD | 12 | 21 May 2011 | |||
29 | Win | 27–2 | UD | 10 | 15 Oct 2010 | |||
28 | Loss | 26–2 | UD | 12 | 11 Dec 2009 | For WBC light-heavyweight title | ||
27 | Loss | 26–1 | UD | 12 | 19 May 2009 | Lost WBC light-heavyweight title | ||
26 | Win | 26–0 | UD | 8 | 4 Apr 2009 | |||
25 | Win | 25–0 | UD | 12 | 19 Apr 2008 | Won WBC interim light-heavyweight title | ||
24 | Win | 24–0 | TKO | 3 (12), 0:32 | 9 May 2007 | |||
23 | Win | 23–0 | UD | 10 | 15 Sep 2006 | |||
22 | Win | 22–0 | UD | 12 | 16 May 2006 | Retained WBC International light-heavyweight title | ||
21 | Win | 21–0 | KO | 4 (12), 3:00 | 24 Mar 2006 | Won vacant WBA–NABA and TAB light-heavyweight titles | ||
20 | Win | 20–0 | TKO | 11 (12), 2:56 | 2 Dec 2005 | Won vacant WBC International light-heavyweight title | ||
19 | Win | 19–0 | TKO | 2 (10), 2:00 | 16 Sep 2005 | Retained Canada light-heavyweight title | ||
18 | Win | 18–0 | TKO | 5 (10), 3:00 | 3 May 2005 | Won vacant Canada light-heavyweight title | ||
17 | Win | 17–0 | TKO | 1 (8) | 12 Apr 2005 | |||
16 | Win | 16–0 | TKO | 4 (6), 3:00 | 18 Mar 2005 | |||
15 | Win | 15–0 | UD | 10 | 20 Mar 2004 | |||
14 | Win | 14–0 | TKO | 3 (8), 2:45 | 20 Dec 2003 | |||
13 | Win | 13–0 | KO | 2 (8), 1:14 | 22 Nov 2003 | |||
12 | Win | 12–0 | TKO | 3 (6) | 17 May 2003 | |||
11 | Win | 11–0 | UD | 8 | 5 Apr 2003 | |||
10 | Win | 10–0 | KO | 1 (8), 1:44 | 28 Feb 2003 | |||
9 | Win | 9–0 | UD | 8 | 14 Dec 2002 | |||
8 | Win | 8–0 | MD | 6 | 6 Sep 2002 | |||
7 | Win | 7–0 | KO | 3 (8) | 31 May 2002 | |||
6 | Win | 6–0 | UD | 6 | 26 Apr 2002 | |||
5 | Win | 5–0 | KO | 1 (6), 1:40 | 30 Nov 2001 | |||
4 | Win | 4–0 | UD | 4 | 20 Jul 2001 | |||
3 | Win | 3–0 | UD | 4 | 10 Jul 2001 | |||
2 | Win | 2–0 | KO | 1 (4), 0:36 | 5 Jun 2001 | |||
1 | Win | 1–0 | TKO | 1 (4), 2:34 | 2 Mar 2001 | Professional debut |
References
- Getting to know...David Haye, Part Two Archived 26 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ESPN - Dawson vacates 175-pound title to gird for possible showdown with Tarver - Boxing
- "Diaconu says goodbye". fightnews.com. 14 May 2012. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
External links
Sporting positions | ||||
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Regional boxing titles | ||||
Vacant Title last held by Éric Lucas |
Canada light-heavyweight champion 3 June 2005 – June 2007 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Jason Naugler | ||
Vacant Title last held by Pietro Aurino |
WBC International light-heavyweight champion 2 December 2005 – October 2007 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Silvio Branco | ||
Vacant Title last held by George Khalid Jones |
WBA–NABA light-heavyweight champion 24 March 2006 – August 2007 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Chris Henry | ||
New title | TAB light-heavyweight champion 24 March 2006 – 2008 Vacated |
Title discontinued | ||
World boxing titles | ||||
Vacant Title last held by Roy Jones Jr. |
WBC light-heavyweight champion Interim title 19 April 2008 – 11 July 2008 Promoted |
Vacant Title next held by Chad Dawson | ||
Preceded by Chad Dawson vacated |
WBC light heavyweight champion 11 July 2008 – 19 June 2009 |
Succeeded by Jean Pascal |