Jason John Litzau (born June 29, 1983) is an American former

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 competed between 2002 and 2016. He challenged once for the IBF

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

title in 2008.

Early life

In his youth Litzau played Little League Baseball, as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

where he won a little league title by pitching a shutout. He attended Harding Senior High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. Litzau's brother Allen Litzau is also a professional boxer.

Amateur career

Known as "The American Boy", Litzau began boxing at 11 years old and reportedly compiled an amateur record of 125-10 Litzau is a former Silver Gloves national champion, having finished second at the 2001 U.S. Championships and earning a spot on the 2001 U.S. National team. Litzau turned pro in 2002.

Professional career

Litzau turned pro on November 16, 2002 and as of September 2013 had a record of 29-3 with 22 knockouts. He has garnered considerable fanfare due to his appearances on ESPN's fight cards. His first loss was against Jose Hernandez on December 16, 2006, on HBO. He lost to IBF World Featherweight Champ Robert Guerrero in a title match on

Leap Day A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) compared to a common year. The 366th day (or 13th month) is added to kee ...

, February 29, 2008.

The Hernandez Incident

Litzau was upset in his first spotlight appearance on HBO's Boxing After Dark in a fight against Jose Hernandez. The fight was intended to showcase Litzau's considerable talent and box office draw. Litzau was ahead on points (68-64 on all three cards) when Hernandez scored an eighth-round knockout over Litzau with a clubbing right hand to the head. Litzau had been dropped by a right hand in round one, but appeared well in control of the bout until getting knocked out in round 8.

IBF Featherweight Championship

Litzau lost via 8th-round TKO to Robert Guerrero in his first shot at the title, on February 29, 2008.

NABF Lightweight Championship

On August 15, 2009, as an undercard to

Roy Jones Jr. Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, including middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. As an amateur he r ...

vs. Jeff Lacy, Litzau fought Verquan Kimbrough for the vacant NABF

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. Litzau won by RTD at the end of Round 3. Litzau moved up two weight classes for the fight.

NABF Super Featherweight Championship

On November 4, 2009 Litzau headlined an

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

Friday Night Fights program against 15-4 Johnnie Edwards with the NABF

Super Featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New ...

title in play. Litzau won the fight by unanimous decision, winning a second NABF title. Litzau defended his title against

Rocky Juarez Ricardo Juárez (born April 15, 1980) is an American former professional boxer. He is a former WBC Silver featherweight champion and a multiple-time world title challenger. Juarez was known over his career for his aggressive fighting style and i ...

on April 3, 2010, winning by technical decision when the fight was halted in the seventh round due to a bad cut on Litzau's cheek which referee Jay Nady ruled was caused by an accidental head butt. On the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Michael Katsidis, Liztau beat former WBA and IBF champion,

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Celestino Caballero Celestino Caballero (born June 21, 1976) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2014. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super) and IBF super bantamweight titles betwee ...

Professional record

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References

External links

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Main Events Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Litzau, Jason 1983 births Living people Lightweight boxers Featherweight boxers Boxers from Saint Paul, Minnesota American male boxers