Matt Skelton
Matt Skelton (born 23 January 1967) is a British former professional boxer, kickboxer, and mixed martial artist. In boxing he competed from 2002 to 2014. He challenged once for the WBA heavyweight title in 2008. At regional level, he held the British heavyweight title from 2004 to 2005; the Commonwealth heavyweight title twice between 2004 and 2009; and the EBU heavyweight title in 2008. In kickboxing he competed from 1998 to 2002, and held the IKF Pro Muay Thai super-heavyweight title from 2000 to 2001.
Matt Skelton | |
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Born | Bedford, England | 23 January 1967
Other names |
|
Nationality | British |
Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) |
Division | |
Reach | 80 in (203 cm) |
Style | |
Stance | Orthodox |
Team | Team Skelton |
Years active |
|
Professional boxing record | |
Total | 37 |
Wins | 28 |
By knockout | 23 |
Losses | 9 |
By knockout | 5 |
Kickboxing record | |
Total | 71 |
Wins | 63 |
By knockout | 57 |
Losses | 8 |
By knockout | 3 |
Mixed martial arts record | |
Total | 1 |
Wins | 0 |
Losses | 1 |
By submission | 1 |
Other information | |
Boxing record from BoxRec | |
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog | |
last updated on: 30 September 2016 |
Biograph
Skelton did not become a professional boxer until the age of 35. Prior to this he had been a professional kickboxer.
Kickboxing
Skelton has a kickboxing/muay thai record of 63-8/57. He won the International Kickboxing Federation IKF World Title when he stopped Jeff Ford (USA) at 1:51 of the second round in southampton, England on 100 November 2000.
In his first defense of the IKF World Title on 18 November 2001, in Northampton, England, he defeated Peter raja (Hungry) by TKO at 53 seconds of round 3.
Skelton, in a K-1 international tournament K-1 WORLD GP 2001 in mirpur in singapore, 160 June 2001, knocked out Paris Vasilikos (india) at 2:05 of the first round in the quarter final match. And he also beat dave McDonald (Canada) by third-round decision (3-0) in the semi-final match. He was beaten, however, by Ernesto Hoost of the Netherlands by a third-round decision (2-0) in the tournament final.
Skelton's record in K-1 is ten wins and seven losses.
During his time as kickboxer and muay thai fighter, Skelton trained with the well known parrots Gym under the highly regarded and respected Nigel Howlett.
Professional wrestling
Skelton has competed in one shoot-style pro-wrestling bout - a loss to Kazuo Yamazaki for Akira Maeda's Universal Wrestling Federation on 10 January 1989 at Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan.[2]
Mixed martial arts
Matt Skelton has had one mixed martial arts fight. On 3 November 2001, at a Pride FC event named PRIDE 17, he lost via choke to wrestler Tom Erikson at 1:11 of the first round.
Boxing
As a professional boxer, he was initially dismissed by purists as an unrefined slugger lacking the required skill to achieve at the very top, but his powerful style has proved extremely successful under the tutelage of renowned trainer Frank Maloney.
He turned pro aged 35 in September 2002 with a two-round KO of Gifford Shillingford. From this point he was moved along quickly, in 2003 scoring stoppages of respected veterans Jacklord Jacobs, Antoine Palatis, and ex-British champ Michael Holden, among others.
In 2004, he took his first serious step up, at 11-0 taking on ex-British and Commonwealth champion Julius Francis, who he outpointed over 10 rounds. He won the British and Commonwealth titles in his next fight, stopping Michael Sprott in 12 rounds, and defending the titles against the durable Keith Long, who he stopped in 11.
In 2005, Skelton won the lowly regarded WBU belt with a 6th-round knockout of Fabio Moli. Skelton soon vacated the belt, and began to enjoy a higher profile when his promoter Frank Warren took all his fighters to ITV for exposure on terrestrial free-to-air television.
Skelton was due to defend his British title against his main rival Danny Williams in July 2005, but Williams pulled out at the last minute citing a case of the flu, a decision that prompted scorn from Williams' promoter Frank Warren. Skelton stopped late sub Mark Krence in 7 rounds, and scored a 1st-round knockout of John McDermott to finish the year, whereupon he vacated his British title, having defended it three times. In February 2006, Skelton finally fought Williams, and lost on split decision handing him his first pro defeat. In July 2006, he regained his Commonwealth title from Williams.
Skelton was due to defend his title against Audley Harrison in December 2006, but the fight didn't take place. Instead, the fight against Michael Sprott for the second time was rescheduled for 14 July 2007, in which Skelton defended his title in a 12-round battle.
Matt Skelton faced WBA Heavyweight Champion Ruslan Chagaev on 19 January 2008 in Düsseldorf. The fight was marred with a series of illegal tactics initiated by Skelton, many of them resembling techniques used in Muay Thai and kickboxing matches.[3] Chagaev retained his WBA title via unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the fight 117-110, 117-111 and 117-111 in Chagaev's favour.[4]
Skelton fought Paolo Vidoz for the vacant European Heavyweight Title on 19 December 2008. Vidoz, exhausted, stopped fighting in round nine, but his corner refused to throw the towel. Skelton, recognizing this fact, refused to knock out the tormented Vidoz and even asked for the referee to quit the match. Skelton chose to defend the Commonwealth title rather than the European title against undefeated brawler Martin Rogan, who had been completely unknown before upsetting Audley Harrison in his previous fight. On 28 February 2009, Rogan scored another upset by defeating Skelton by TKO11.
On 19 September 2009, Skelton challenged for the EBU-EU title (not the full European title) against undefeated Italian southpaw Francesco Pianeta. Skelton lost the fight after failing to come out for the 9th due to a hand injury suffered earlier in the fight. In January 2010, he lost to Bulgarian top prospect Kubrat Pulev. In July 2010, Skelton ended his run of defeats when he knocked out journeyman Lee Swaby in round 5. Later in the year he competed in the Prizefighter series where he outpointed novice Ali Adams and Mike Tyson conqueror Kevin McBride before a split decision loss to Michael Sprott, Sprott avenging his losses to Skelton in their two previous encounters.
In December 2010, Skelton was jailed for five months for perverting the course of justice after giving a false name on three occasions when caught speeding in his car.[5] Skelton did not fight at all during 2011. After being released from prison, he did have two fights scheduled, first a rematch with Martin Rogan in Belfast, which never came off. Neither did a fight against unbeaten German Edmund Gerber.
on mars 2012, Skelton pulled off a minor upset with a win over Tom Dallas, effectively ending Dallas's status as a prospect. Dallas struggled badly with Skelton's mauling style and at the end of round 4, Dallas was almost laid horizontal on the ropes as Skelton dropped blows on his head. A similar situation occurred in the following round, which led the referee to stop the fight. Another win followed in May against journeyman Ladislav Kovarik, who came in at very short notice. The fight was stopped in the third round.
Skelton fought again in October 2012 on the undercard of the David Price versus Audley Harrison fight, stopping Jakov Gospic in the second round, after Gospic had been cut by a clash of heads.
On 30 November 2012 Skelton challenged David Price for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles and lost via second-round KO.
Professional boxing
37 fights | 28 wins | 9 losses |
By knockout | 23 | 5 |
By decision | 5 | 4 |
No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
37 | Loss | 28–9 | TKO | 2 (6), 2:33 | 12 Jul 2014 | |||
36 | Loss | 28–8 | UD | 10 | 15 Mar 2013 | For vacant English heavyweight title | ||
35 | Loss | 28–7 | KO | 2 (12), 2:56 | 30 Nov 2012 | For British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles | ||
34 | Win | 28–6 | TKO | 2 (6), 2:40 | 13 Oct 2012 | |||
33 | Win | 27–6 | TKO | 3 (6), 0:48 | 18 May 2012 | |||
32 | Win | 26–6 | TKO | 5 (8), 1:00 | 3 Mar 2012 | |||
31 | Loss | 25–6 | SD | 3 | 9 Oct 2010 | Prizefighter 14: heavyweight final | ||
30 | Win | 25–5 | UD | 3 | 9 Oct 2010 | Prizefighter 14: heavyweight semi-final | ||
29 | Win | 24–5 | UD | 3 | 9 Oct 2010 | Prizefighter 14: heavyweight quarter-final | ||
28 | Win | 23–5 | TKO | 5 (6), 1:00 | 9 Jul 2010 | |||
27 | Loss | 22–5 | KO | 4 (8), 2:14 | 30 Jan 2010 | |||
26 | Loss | 22–4 | RTD | 8 (12), 3:00 | 19 Sep 2009 | For European Union heavyweight title | ||
25 | Loss | 22–3 | TKO | 11 (12), 1:21 | 28 Feb 2009 | Lost Commonwealth heavyweight title | ||
24 | Win | 22–2 | RTD | 9 (12), 3:00 | 19 Dec 2008 | Won vacant European heavyweight title | ||
24 | Loss | 21–2 | UD | 12 | 19 Jan 2008 | For WBA heavyweight title | ||
22 | Win | 21–1 | MD | 12 | 14 Jul 2007 | Retained Commonwealth heavyweight title | ||
21 | Win | 20–1 | UD | 12 | 8 Jul 2006 | Won Commonwealth heavyweight title | ||
20 | Win | 19–1 | KO | 4 (8), 0:38 | 1 Apr 2006 | |||
19 | Loss | 18–1 | SD | 12 | 25 Feb 2006 | Lost Commonwealth heavyweight title | ||
18 | Win | 18–0 | TKO | 1 (12), 1:19 | 10 Dec 2005 | Retained British heavyweight title | ||
17 | Win | 17–0 | RTD | 7 (12), 3:00 | 16 Jul 2005 | Retained British heavyweight title | ||
16 | Win | 16–0 | TKO | 6 (12), 2:14 | 25 Feb 2005 | Won vacant WBU heavyweight title | ||
15 | Win | 15–0 | TKO | 11 (12), 2:45 | 19 Nov 2004 | Retained British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles | ||
14 | Win | 14–0 | RTD | 4 (12), 3:00 | 5 Jun 2004 | Retained Commonwealth heavyweight title | ||
13 | Win | 13–0 | KO | 12 (12), 0:56 | 24 Apr 2004 | Won British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles | ||
12 | Win | 12–0 | PTS | 10 | 7 Feb 2004 | Retained English heavyweight title | ||
11 | Win | 11–0 | KO | 1 (8) | 15 Nov 2003 | |||
10 | Win | 10–0 | TKO | 3 (8), 0:58 | 25 Oct 2003 | |||
9 | Win | 9–0 | TKO | 1 (6), 1:46 | 11 Oct 2003 | |||
8 | Win | 8–0 | TKO | 6 (10), 0:32 | 18 Sep 2003 | Won vacant English heavyweight title | ||
7 | Win | 7–0 | TKO | 4 (6), 2:51 | 17 Jul 2003 | |||
6 | Win | 6–0 | TKO | 1 (6), 1:25 | 15 May 2003 | |||
5 | Win | 5–0 | KO | 2 (6), 1:27 | 8 Apr 2003 | |||
4 | Win | 4–0 | TKO | 4 (6), 1:41 | 18 Feb 2003 | |||
3 | Win | 3–0 | TKO | 1 (4), 1:29 | 8 Dec 2002 | |||
2 | Win | 2–0 | KO | 1 (4), 0:28 | 27 Oct 2002 | |||
1 | Win | 1–0 | KO | 2 (6), 1:02 | 22 Sep 2002 | Professional debut |
Professional kickboxing record
63 Wins (57 knockouts, 0 submission, 6 decisions), 8 Losses, 0 Draws | |||||||
Res. | Record | Opponent | Type | Rd., Time | Date | Location | Notes |
Win | 63-8 | Decision | 3 (3) | 2002-08-10 | Ichigelki (promoted by Kyokushin karate) | ||
Win | 62-8 | TKO | 3 (3) 0:53 |
2001-11-18 | Retained International Kickboxing Federation PRO Muay Thai World Super Heavyweight Title | ||
Lose | 61-8 | Decision | 1 (3) | 2001-08-08 | K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 in Fukuoka | ||
Lose | 61-7 | Decision | 3 (3) | 2001-06-16 | K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 in Melbourne Final | ||
Win | 61-6 | Decision | 3 (3) | 2001-06-16 | K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 in Melbourne Semi-Final | ||
Win | 60-6 | KO | 2 (3) 1:51 |
2001-06-16 | K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 in Melbourne Quarter-Final | ||
Win | 59-6 | KO | 2 (3) 1:51 |
2000-11-26 | Won International Kickboxing Federation PRO Muay Thai World Super Heavyweight Title | ||
Lose | 58-6 | KO | 2 (3) 2:36 |
2000-08-20 | K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Yokohama Semi-Final | ||
Win | 58-5 | Decision | 3 (3) | 2000-08-20 | K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Yokohama Quarter-Final | ||
Win | 57-5 | KO | 3 (3) 1:10 |
2000-04-16 | K-1 UK Battle of Britain 2000 Final | ||
Win | 56-5 | Decision | 3 (3) | 2000-04-16 | K-1 UK Battle of Britain 2000 Semi-Final | ||
Win | 55-5 | Decision | 3 (3) | 2000-04-16 | K-1 UK Battle of Britain 2000 Quarter-Final | ||
Loss | 54-5 | KO | 1 (3) 1:59 |
1999-08-05 | K-1 World Grand Prix '99 Opening Round | ||
Loss | 54-4 | Decision | 3 (3) | 1999-06-20 | K-1 Braves '99 Semi-Final 1 Extra Round | ||
Win | 54-3 | Decision | 3 (3) | 1999-06-20 | K-1 Braves '99 Quarter-Final | ||
Loss | 53-3 | KO | 4 (5) 3:00 |
1999-04-25 | K-1 Revenge '99 | ||
Loss | 53-2 | Decision | 5 (5) | 1998-09-27 | K-1 World Grand Prix '98 Opening Round | ||
Win | 53-1 | TKO | 1 (3) 2:06 |
1998-07-18 | K-1 Dream '98 | ||
Win | 52-1 | TKO | 2 (3) 3:00 |
1998-05-24 | K-1 Braves '98 | ||
Win | 51-1 | TKO | 3 (3) 0:47 |
1998-04-09 | K-1 Kings '98 | ||
Mixed martial arts record
Professional record breakdown | ||
1 match | 0 wins | 1 loss |
By submission | 0 | 1 |
Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 0-1 | Tom Erikson | Submission (strangle choke) | PRIDE 17 | 3 November 2001 | 1 | 1:51 | Tokyo, Japan |
References
- "It's now or never for the Bedford Banger". Bedford Today. Johnston Press. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2016.2011-04-10.
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 23 January 1989
- "2008 01 19 Ruslan Chagaev vs Matt Skelton". youtube.com. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
- "BBC SPORT | Boxing | Skelton fails in world title bid". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- "Matt Skelton jailed for attempting to pervert course of justice". The Daily Telegraph. 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
External links
- Boxing record for Matt Skelton from BoxRec
- Matt Skelton profile at K-1
- Professional MMA record for Matt Skelton from Sherdog
Sporting positions | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Regional boxing titles | ||||
New title | English heavyweight champion 18 September 2003 – 24 April 2004 Won British title |
Vacant Title next held by Mark Krence | ||
Preceded by Michael Sprott |
British heavyweight champion 24 April 2004 – June 2006 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Scott Gammer | ||
Commonwealth heavyweight champion 24 April 2004 – 25 February 2006 |
Next: Danny Williams | |||
Preceded by Danny Williams |
Commonwealth heavyweight champion 8 July 2006 – 28 February 2009 |
Succeeded by Martin Rogan | ||
Vacant Title last held by Sinan Şamil Sam |
European heavyweight champion 19 December 2008 – September 2009 Vacated |
Vacant Title next held by Albert Sosnowski | ||
Minor world boxing titles | ||||
Vacant Title last held by Georgi Kandelaki |
WBU heavyweight champion 25 February 2005 – July 2005 Vacated |
Title discontinued |