Brian Rose (born 15 February 1985) is a British
professional boxer. He challenged once for the
WBO
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...
light middleweight
Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...
title in 2014. At regional level, he held the
British light middleweight title from 2011 to 2012.
Amateur career
Rose began boxing aged 9 when Dad (Eddie) started him on the path of becoming a boxer due to his hyper activity. It was early on when Eddie was informed that his son was a bit of a natural and so it came to pass that his first amateur fight came just aged 11. He lost, but it didn't put him off and he went on to have 90 amateur fights winning 78 of them and boxing for England. Over 30 of these fights were in different places around the world, the most memorable being in
New Delhi,
India.
Rose became 6 time national champion, earned a bronze in the European cadet championships and loved every minute of the amateur boxing life and so he took the obvious but difficult decision to turn professional and concentrate full-time on being a boxer.
Professional career
Early career
Rose's professional debut came on 14 December 2005 with a victory over Geraint Harvey at the Hilton Hotel in
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
. Another 14 bouts were fought and won (with the exception of 1 draw) before the moment in Brian's career that he describes as his 'lowest moment' whilst fighting for the Central Area Title. Having beaten Jason Rushton at the Bolton Arena in
Bolton on 23 October 2009 to win the title, Rose was horrified to learn that Rushton had been rushed to hospital following his collapse in the dressing room after the 10th round stoppage. His opponent was placed in a drug induced coma whilst a bleed on the brain was repaired. This had a detrimental effect on Rose's state of mind. In his next fight he was knocked to the canvas by
Max Maxwell at the Leisure Centre
Huddersfield. After Rose's only professional defeat to date, he fought Terry Carruthers at the
Velodrome in
Manchester before getting a shot at the vacant English Title.
English Light Middleweight Title
Rose earned a shot at the English title when he fought Lee Noble at George Carnall Leisure Centre,
Davyhulme,
Manchester on 21 November 2010. He won by unanimous decision after 10 rounds of
boxing and was faced with the prospect of defending the title, 6 months later, against the undefeated
Martin Welsh at Medway Park Leisure Centre, Gillingham on 13 May 2011. After another successful bout, this time a victory by
TKO TKO may refer to:
Sports
* Technical knockout, a professional fighting term
* Total Knock Out, a professional wrestling move
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* TKO (band), a rock band from Seattle, Washington
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* ''TKO ...
in the 8th round of the contest, Rose was given the opportunity of a shot at the British Title fighting
Prince Arron.
British Light Middleweight Title
Rose fought
Prince Arron on 3 December 2011 at
Robin Park Centre
The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...
,
Wigan and was awarded a unanimous decision by a dominant points margin. 31 March 2012 saw the first defence of the title and a long overdue return to home soil with the fight taking place at
Winter Gardens,
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
. The opponent the only man to have beaten 'the lion'
Max Maxwell. Rose won a convincing unanimous points decision after 12 rounds.
Next to take on 'the Lion' was Scot Kris Carslaw on 2 June 2012 at Bowlers Exhibition Centre,
Manchester. Rose won what has been describes as a 'nip and tuck affair' although the Scot had been cut early in the fight in the 3rd round. In his next fight, which was described as a bout to keep the champion 'ticking over' Brian beat the former World champion
Vivian Harris
Ivan Vivian Harris (born June 17, 1978) is a Guyanese former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2018. He held the WBA super lightweight title from 2002 to 2005.
Amateur career
After Harris arrived in the U.S., he began his amateur ...
again at the
Winter Gardens,
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
by way of 3rd-round knockout.
The 3rd defence of Rose's title came against former champion and
mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...
Sam Webb on 14 December 2012 again back on home soil at
Winter Gardens,
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
. This was to be a spicy bout after Webb had accused the champion of evading him after a previous date had fallen through and Rose had fought Vivian Harris instead. On being accused by Webb as being 'a bottler' Rose responded, "I'm not a bottler, I'll fight anyone, I want the belt outright so fighting
Sam Webb is perfect for me. I'd beat Sam 9 times out of 10 so why wouldn't I want that fight? ... he need to take his frustration out on promoters not me."
The champion won with a unanimous decision having provided the challenger with what was described as 'more eye catching work' an such retained the
Lonsdale Belt
The Lord Lonsdale Challenge Belt, commonly known as the Lonsdale Belt, is the oldest championship belt in British professional boxing. Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, introduced the prize on behalf of the National Sporting Club (NSC), inten ...
.
WBO Intercontinental Title
After joining
Eddie Hearn at
Matchroom, Rose fought for the vacant WBO Intercontinental belt against faded former World Champion in
Joachim Alcine. The bout was won by TKO in the final round and provided Rose with the 7th KO of his career. Although it was largely meaningless yet propelled him to 4th in the WBO rankings and applied pressure on the then-champion to give Rose a shot at the title.

Rose defeated Alexey Ribchev by unanimous decision at
Bolton Arena
Bolton Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena, located at Middlebrook on the boundary between Horwich and Lostock in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It has a seating capacity of 6,000 people and hosts indoor sport ...
Bolton on 29 June 2013.
WBO title fight
Rose faced the 5th ranked WBO contender, Argentine, Javier Maciel, in a world title eliminator at
Motorpoint Arena,
Sheffield on the undercard of
Kell Brook v.
Vyacheslav Senchenko. Rose won by split decision with scores of 117-111, 116-113, and 113-115. This win places Rose as the mandatory challenger for the winner of the light middleweight title fight between
Vanes Martirosyan
Vanes Martirosyan ( hy, Վանես Մարտիրոսյան; born May 1, 1986) is a former Armenian-born American professional boxer from 2005 to 2019. He has challenged twice for a light middleweight world title in 2013 and 2016, and once for ...
and
Demetrius Andrade.
Brian Rose was dominated and knocked out by Demetrius Andrade in brooklyn New York at the Barclays center on 14 June 2014.
On 14 June 2014, fought Demetrius Andrade for the WBO light middleweight title. Andrade was in control for most of the fight, dropping Rose once in the opening round, and once more in the third round, before forcing a stoppage by the referee in round seven.
On 9 April, Rose fought Matthew Macklin. The first part of the fight belonged to Macklin, while Rose upped his worked rate in the second half of the fight. That would end up not being enough, as the judges scored the fight 115-111, 115-111 and 113-113 in favor of Macklin.
On 2 August 2019, Rose battled Anthony Fowler to a unanimous decision loss. Rose put up a good fight, showing he still has a lot left in the tank, but obviously well past his prime fighting years.
Personal details
Born in Birmingham in 1985, Rose moved to Blackpool at the age of 8 and began boxing aged 9. He is a father of 3 and partner to Danielle. He is cousin to former
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
and
Everton defender
Joleon Lescott
Joleon Patrick Lescott (born 16 August 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He currently works as a coach with the England U21s.
Lescott is a graduate of the Wolverhampton Wanderers youth academy. H ...
.
Professional boxing record
External links
www.roseboxing.co.uk Rose's WebsiteBrian Rose - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankingsa
Box.Live
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Brian
English male boxers
Light-middleweight boxers
Sportspeople from Blackpool
1985 births
Living people