Jim Rock (born 12 March 1972) is an Irish 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 from 1995 to 2009. He is the only boxer to have held the Irish title at four different weights divisions:

light-middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the Intern ...

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

super-middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

and

light-heavyweight Light heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight. The light heavyweight class has ...

Background

Family

Rock was born into a large family in the

Blanchardstown Blanchardstown () is a large outer suburb of Dublin in the modern Counties of Ireland, county of Fingal, Ireland. Located northwest of Dublin city centre, it has developed since the 1960s from a small village to a point where Greater Blanchards ...

area of west Dublin. Rock is a cousin of former Irish

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

champion Robbie Murray. Rock is now married with a young family.

TV and film

In 2003, Rock trained

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He achieved his breakthrough with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first su ...

in preparation for his role in the film '' Reign of Fire''. In return, McConaughey worked Rock's corner during his victory over Jason Collins. Rock also trained Geri Halliwell from the Spice Girls in 1999 before they kicked of their world tour in the Point Depot in Dublin. In March 2007, Rock fought a five-round exhibition fight in Dublin against former Olympic champion Michael Carruth. Rock, along with Mick Dowling, co-presents boxing broadcasts for the Irish national television broadcaster,

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

Boxing career

Rock boxed as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

prior to turning professional in November 1995. He won his first fight at the

Point Depot The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall ...

in Dublin, beating the previously unbeaten Craig Lynch the

undercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

of a bill that included fellow Irish boxers

Steve Collins Stephen Collins (born 21 July 1964) is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 1997. Known as the Celtic Warrior, Collins is the most successful male Irish boxer in recent professional boxing history, having held the WBO ...

and

Eamonn Magee Eamonn Magee (born 13 July 1971 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a retired WBU World Welterweight Boxing Champion who competed from 1995 to 2007 in the professional arena. He fought for and won the WBU World title in December 2003. He also hel ...

. Rock was a veteran of the Dublin professional fight scene; however, he fought out of the Breen Gym in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. Rock is a former WAA Inter-Continental European

Super Middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

, IBC

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

, WBF Continental European

Light Middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the Intern ...

, Irish Light Middleweight and Irish Super Middleweight title holder and Irish Middleweight title holder. However, arguably his biggest fight was against Margate based Iranian, Mehrdud "

Takaloo Merdud Takalobighashi (born 23 September 1975 in Tehran, Iran) (), more commonly known as Merdud Takaloo or Takaloo, is an Iranian born British based boxer. He is the older brother to the rapper Mic Righteous. Early life Takaloo was born in 19 ...

" Takalobigashi for the WBU Light Middleweight title which took place in Belfast's Odyssey Arena in February 2003. Rock lost this keenly contested fight to an explosive overhand right knock out defeat in the ninth round.

Brian Peters

Rock fought on Brian Peters promotions which were broadcast on Irish station

but he has since retired.

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

fighter

John Duddy John Francis Duddy (born 19 June 1979) is an Irish actor and former professional boxer who fought from 2003 to 2010. He challenged once for the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title, losing in his final fight to Julio César Chávez Jr. Amateu ...

once displayed interest in taking on the Dubliner for the Irish middleweight title. Duddy's management attended Rock's 3 June 2006 fight against Kevin Phelan in Dublin, a seventh-round TKO victory for Rock. The fight was initially scheduled for 29 September 2006 at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

, but was then postponed, for a November 2006 bout in Dublin, Ireland which again did not materialise. The speculation of a potential superfight against John Duddy continued into 2007 and a bill including a Duddy/Rock match up and a Bernard Dunne title defense was planned for late summer 2007.A busy summer for Duddy
Ultimately, that fight never took place. Rock was undefeated from 2003 until his retirement in 2009.

References

External links

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Jim Rock Motors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock, Jim 1972 births Living people Boxers from County Dublin Irish male boxers Middleweight boxers