David Dejiro Defiagbon (12 June 1970 – 24 November 2018) was a Nigerian

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom *Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe eel, ...

. Nicknamed "The Dream", Defiagbon fought for Canada and won the heavyweight silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Amateur

Born in

Sapele ''Entandrophragma cylindricum'' is a tree of the genus ''Entandrophragma'' of the family ''Meliaceae''. It is commonly known as sapele or sapelli ( ) or sapele mahogany, as well as aboudikro, assi, and muyovu. Origin of the name The name ''sap ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

, Defiagbon won gold in the welterweight (– 67 kg) division at the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games ( mi, 1990 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Parti ...

. As a light-middleweight, he won a bronze medal in the

1991 All-Africa Games The 5th All-Africa Games were held from September 20 to October 1, 1991, in Cairo, Egypt. Forty-three countries participated in eighteen sports. For the first time the Games were held on a four-year cycle as planned. Egypt had hoped to use the G ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

. In 1992 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

he represented Nigeria and was eliminated in the first round of the light middleweight division (7 to 8 against Raúl Márquez). Defiagbon went on to fight for Canada for whom he won the heavyweight silver medal (limit 201 lbs) at the 1996 Summer Olympics beating Nate Jones, losing to

Félix Savón Félix Savón Fabre (born 22 September 1967) is a retired Cuban amateur boxer, who competed from 1980 to 2000. Considered one of the all-time greatest amateur boxers, he became three-time Olympic gold medalist, and the World Champion six times ...

Results

1990 Commonwealth Games *Defeated James Pender (Scotland) RSCH-3 *Defeated

Alfred Ankamah Alfred Addo Ankamah (born January 31, 1967, in Accra) is a Ghanaian professional boxer in the Light Middleweight division. Amateur career Ankamah fought for his country of Ghana at Welterweight during the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. He had been a ...

(Ghana) 5–0 *Defeated

Anthony Mwamba Anthony Mwamba (8 August 1960 – 21 January 2021) was a Zambian boxer. He competed in the men's light welterweight event at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Mwamba won a bronze medal in the welterweight (67 kg) division at the 1990 Commonwealth ...

(Zambia) 4–1 *Defeated Greg Johnson (Canada) 5–0 1992 Summer Olympics *Lost to

Raúl Márquez Raúl Márquez (born August 28, 1971) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. He held IBF junior middleweight title between April and December 1997. Márquez also represented the U.S. at the 1992 Summer Olympics ...

(United States) 7–8 1996 Summer Olympics *1st round bye *Defeated

Omar Ahmed Omar Ahmed Abdelkader (born December 29, 1979) is an amateur boxer from Kenya, who is also known as Omar Ahmed, Ahmed Abdelkader, or Ahmed Rajab Omari. He is best known for winning the gold medal in the men's heavyweight division (– 91& ...

(Kenya) 15–4 *Defeated Christophe Mendy (France) DQ 3 (1:01) *Defeated Nate Jones (United States) 10–16 *Lost to

(Cuba) 2–20

Professional

Defiagbon began his professional career that same year and won his first 21 fights against limited competition, and was a significantly undersized heavyweight with little power although he was tall. In his first step up, he took on comebacking

Oleg Maskaev Oleg Alexandrovich Maskayev (russian: Олег Александрович Маскаев; also Maskaev; born 2 March 1969) is a Russian-American former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2013, and held the WBC heavyweight title from 2 ...

, who defeated Defiagbon via split decision. In his final bout, Defiagbon fought Cuba's former world

cruiserweight Cruiserweight is a term associated with: *Cruiserweight (boxing), a weight class in boxing between light heavyweight and heavyweight * Cruiserweight (MMA), a weight class in mixed martial arts with an upper weight limit at . *Cruiserweight (profess ...

champion

Juan Carlos Gomez ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...

, who scored a TKO stoppage win at heavyweight over Defiagbon in the third round, ending Defiagbon's career.

Professional boxing record

, - , align="center" colspan=8, 21 Wins (12 knockouts, 9 decisions), 2 Losses (1 knockout, 1 decision

, - , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Result , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Record , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Opponent , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Type , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Round , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Date , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Location , align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Notes , -align=center , Loss , , align=left,

, TKO , 3 , 2005-01-15 , align=left,

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label= Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Mag ...

, Germany , align=left, , - , Loss , , align=left,

, SD , 10 , 2004-07-23 , align=left,

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Ron Guerrero , TKO , 5 , 2004-06-12 , align=left,

Devonshire Parish Devonshire Parish is one of the nine parishes of Bermuda. Originally named ''Cavendish Tribe'' and later Devonshire Tribe, for William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire (1552–1626). ''Devonshire Redoubt'', on Castle Island, one of the Castle H ...

, Bermuda , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Ken Murphy , UD , 6 , 2004-03-13 , align=left,

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Joe Lenhart , UD , 6 , 2003-04-26 , align=left, Las Vegas, Nevada, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Ramon Hayes , UD , 6 , 2002-09-29 , align=left,

Lemoore, California Lemoore (formerly, La Tache and Lee Moore's) is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Lemoore is located west-southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of . It is part of the Hanford-Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 25 ...

, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Gary Winmon , TKO , 2 , 2002-02-16 , align=left, Las Vegas, Nevada, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Reynaldo Minus , TKO , 4 , 2001-09-28 , align=left, Las Vegas, Nevada, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Harold Sconiers , KO , 5 , 2001-07-06 , align=left,

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Louis Monaco , UD , 8 , 2000-10-04 , align=left,

Canyonville, Oregon Canyonville is a city in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. The population was 1,884 at the 2010 census. The main regional tourist attraction, the Seven Feathers Casino Resort is in Canyonville. Geography The city lies along Interstate 5 abou ...

, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Agustin Corpus , UD , 6 , 2000-08-24 , align=left, Worley, Idaho, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Tim Pollard , TKO , 1 , 2000-05-05 , align=left, Las Vegas, Nevada, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, James Jones , UD , 6 , 1999-07-01 , align=left,

Tunica, Mississippi Tunica is a town in and the county seat of Tunica County, Mississippi, United States, near the Mississippi River. Until the early 1990s when casino gambling was introduced in the area, Tunica had been one of the most impoverished places in the Un ...

, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, John Kiser , UD , 8 , 1999-05-06 , align=left, Tacoma, Washington, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Terry Verners , TKO , 1 , 1999-03-20 , align=left,

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Wesley Martin , UD , 6 , 1999-02-18 , align=left,

Bossier City, Louisiana Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area. In 2020, it had ...

, US , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Ritchie Goosehead , KO , 3 , 1998-08-06 , align=left,

Slave Lake, Alberta Slave Lake is a town in northern Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River No. 124. It is approximately northwest of Edmonton. It is located on the southeast shore of Lesser Slave Lake at the junction o ...

, Canada , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Anthony Moore , TKO , 3 , 1998-06-27 , align=left,

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Dean Storey , KO , 1 , 1998-05-08 , align=left,

Red Deer, Alberta Red Deer is a city in Alberta, Canada, located midway on the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Red Deer serves central Alberta, and key industries include health care, retail trade, construction, oil and gas, hospitality, manufacturing and education. ...

, Canada , align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, KO , 2 , 1998-02-13 , align=left, align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Dwight Staten , TKO , 1 , 1998-01-23 , align=left, align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Alonzo Hollis , UD , 6 , 1997-03-04 , align=left, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ">align=left, , - , Win , , align=left, Bill Dorsch , TKO , 1 , 1996-10-19 , align=left, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada , align=left,

Death

Defiagbon died of heart complications in Las Vegas, Nevada on 24 November 2018.Former Olympic boxer David Defiagbon dead at 48
/ref> He was 48.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Defiagbon, David Nigerian male boxers Black Canadian boxers 1970 births 2018 deaths Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Canada Olympic boxers of Nigeria Olympic silver medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in boxing Boxers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Nigeria Canadian male boxers Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in boxing African Games bronze medalists for Nigeria African Games medalists in boxing Nigerian emigrants to Canada Competitors at the 1991 All-Africa Games Welterweight boxers Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games