David Griffiths (26 November 1963 – 2 March 2007) was a British

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. He competed in the men's light welterweight event at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, reaching the third round. He turned professional after the Games and won the Welsh super light-welterweight title in January 1988 and defended the title the following year.

Early life

Griffiths was born in Glossop Terrace in

Adamsdown Adamsdown (sometimes or , ) is an inner city area and community in the south of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. Adamsdown is generally located between Newport Road, to the north and the mainline railway to the south. The area includes C ...

, Cardiff, Wales. He was the youngest of nine children born to Kenneth Griffiths and his wife Vivienne. He attended

Willows High School Willows High School () is a secondary school located in the Tremorfa area of Cardiff, Wales. It caters for pupils aged 11 to 16 and is English-medium. As of September 2015, the headteacher is Chris Norman. He succeeded Joy Ballard, under who ...

Career

Amateur

Griffiths, a former Welsh Amateur Boxing Association champion, was chosen to represent Great Britain at the

in Los Angeles. At the time, he was working as a warehouseman alongside his boxing train. After receiving a bye in the first round, he was drawn against Clifton Charleswell of the

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in the second. Griffiths won the bout via a unanimous judges' decision. In the third round, Griffiths met Dhawee Umponmaha of Thailand. He was eliminated after suffering a 4–1 points defeat, Umponmaha went on to win the silver medal in the event.

Professional

Griffiths turned professional after the Olympics, winning his debut fight against George Jones in January 1985. He suffered his first defeat two months later against Alastair Laurie but embarked on an undefeated run, winning five and drawing one of his next six fights. This streak was ended by points defeat to Angel Hernandez in February 1987. In January 1988, Griffiths won the vacant Welsh super light-welterweight title by defeating Mark Pearce. He defended his title against Pearce in a rematch the following year. His last professional bout was in February 1990, in which he suffered a TKO defeat to Dave Pearce.

Later life

After retiring from boxing, Griffiths worked as a builder and a labourer. He died in March 2007 at the age of 43.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Dave 1963 births 2007 deaths Welsh male boxers British male boxers Olympic boxers for Great Britain Boxers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Boxers from Cardiff Light-welterweight boxers