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)	Light middleweight Welterweight
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Nationality	English
Born	(1983-02-07) 7 February 1983 Oldham, England
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	27
Wins	22
Wins by KO	9
Losses	5

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

1. http://www.boxingnews24.com/2011/02/craig-watson-wants-the-opportunity-to-drop-khan-again/
2. "Watson professional record".Boxrec | Craig Watson record
3. Bradley, Mike (10 December 2007). "Watson shakes Ali's world". Manchester Evening News. M.E.N. Media.
4. Boxing News| Craig Watson interview Archived 30 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
5. "It's time to move on". Tameside Advertiser. M.E.N. Media. 11 June 2008.
6. "O'Donnell stuns Watson in classic". BBC Sport. 11 April 2009.
7. "Watson relishing Riad clash". Oldham Advertiser. M.E.N. Media. 25 November 2009.
8. Boxing Scene | Scott Lawton suffers hometown defeat – also features Watson vs Jones report
9. Robson, James (16 April 2010). "Vassell, Watson just champion". Manchester Evening News. M.E.N. Media.
10. Boxing Scene | Matthew Hatton continues to rise from Rickys shadow – with bill report inc. Watson vs. Okine
11. "Watson professional record".
12. Manchester Evening News | Craig Watson dreaming of Boundary Park showdown
13. Sporting Life | Watson gains revenge on O'Donnell Archived 29 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
14. The Independent | Khan retains title despite dispute over stoppage
15. East Anglian Daily Times | Colchester boxer Lee Purdy wins British title defence
16. Craig Watson – Boxer

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