Craig Evans (boxer)
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Craig Anthony Evans (born 18 September 1989) is a Welsh
professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...
who challenged for the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...
title in 2015.


Professional career

Evans made his professional debut on 15 May 2010, scoring a first-round
technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
(TKO) over Dan Carr at Upton Park in
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, England. After winning his first 14 fights, three by stoppage, he fought
Scott Cardle Scott Cardle (born 28 September 1989) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2012 to 2018. He held the British lightweight title from 2015 to 2016. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the welterweight division at the 2009 ...
for the vacant British lightweight title on 30 May 2015 at
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in London. The bout was part of the undercard of
Kell Brook Ezekiel "Kell" Brook (born 3 May 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2022. He held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight title from 2014 to 2017, and challenged once for a unified middleweigh ...
's IBF world title defence against Frankie Gavin. Evans suffered the first defeat of his career via
unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...
(UD), with all three judges scoring the bout 116–112. Following defeat to Cardle, he faced 2012 Olympian
Tom Stalker Thomas Lee Stalker (born 30 June 1984) is an English professional boxer who challenged for the Commonwealth lightweight title in 2017. He won multiple international medals while competing for England as an amateur, including gold at the 2010 C ...
for the vacant
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 Boxin ...
European lightweight title on 10 October 2015 at the
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. The bout was scored a
split draw A split draw is an outcome in several full-contact combat sports, including boxing, mixed martial arts, and other sports involving striking. In a split draw, one of the three judges scores the contest in favor of one fighter, another judge scores i ...
(SD), with one judge scoring it 96–94 in favour of Evans, another scoring it 97–93 to Stalker while the third judge scored it even at 95–95. The pair had a rematch two months later on 19 December at the same venue, again for the vacant WBO European title. The bout was once again scored a SD, with one judge scoring it 96–94 for Evans, another scoring it 96–94 for Stalker and the third scoring it even at 95–95. After securing a
points decision A points decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking. Unlike normal decisions where there are three judges who agree on which ...
(PTS) victory against Jordan Ellison in July 2016, Evans and Stalker agreed to settle the score once and for all in a trilogy fight on 26 November 2016 at the Motorpoint Arena in
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, Wales, with the WBO European title being on the line yet again, although this time the title was in Stalker's possession. Evans defeated Stalker via
majority decision A majority decision (MD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (at ...
(MD) to capture his first professional title. Two judges scored the bout 98–92 and 96–94 in favour of Evans, while the third scored it even at 95–95. He successfully defended his title against Stephen Ormond in June 2017 before facing undefeated Roman Andreev on 3 February 2018 at the
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in
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, Russia. Evans suffered the second defeat of his career, losing his WBO European title via ninth-round TKO. At the time of the stoppage, Evans was ahead on all three judges' scorecards with 77–75 and 76–75 twice. He bounced back from defeat with a PTS victory in a rematch with Jordan Ellison in September 2018 before challenging for the vacant WBO European title once again, this time against Boy Jones Jr. on 19 November 2018 at the
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in London. Evans captured the title for a second time, defeating Jones Jr. via UD. One judge scored the bout 98–92 and the other two scored it 97–93. He successfully defended the title in a rematch with Stephen Ormond in June 2019, before facing
James Tennyson James Martin Tennyson (born 6 August 1993) is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2012 to 2021. who challenged for the IBF super-featherweight title in 2018 and the IBO lightweight title in May 2021. At regional level ...
five months later in a non-title fight on 23 November at the
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(formerly Echo Arena) in
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. Evans was dropped in the first round en route to an eleventh-round TKO defeat.


Professional boxing record


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Craig Living people 1989 births Welsh male boxers Sportspeople from Newport, Wales Super-featherweight boxers Lightweight boxers 21st-century Welsh sportsmen