Joseph Ham (born 20 June 1991) is a Scottish 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 ...

. 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 ...

, he competed at the 2013 World Championships, as well as two

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

and two

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Early years

Born and raised in the

Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and former burgh, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and e ...

, Ham began boxing at the age of 12 as a way to get fit and lose weight, initially joining Dennistoun McNair ABC. He followed the advice of his father, also named Joseph, who was a former boxer himself. Just a year later he won the Scottish national championship, his first at the youth level. After turning 18 he started training at Hayfield ABC in the Gorbals. Ham won a total of ten Scottish championships, and was a two-time British champion as well. Following his round of 16 loss to

Sakaria Lukas Sakaria Lukas (born 4 May 1984) is a Namibian professional boxer. As an amateur, he competed at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Amateur career A bantamweight, Lukas competed for Namibia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the Bantamweight division. ...

at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

, he collapsed in his training room and required medical assistance. The following year he won a gold medal at the 2011 GB Amateur Boxing Championships in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, defeating 2010 Commonwealth gold medallist

Sean McGoldrick Sean McGoldrick (born 3 December 1991) is a Welsh professional boxer who has held the British and Commonwealth bantamweight titles since February 2023. As an amateur he was awarded the gold medal for the Bantamweight division at the 2010 Commo ...

in the final. In March 2014 he won his fifth consecutive Scottish national title at the senior level, securing his spot at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

in his hometown. At the Games, Ham defeated Nadir Nadir of Pakistan in the round of 16 before getting knocked out in the quarterfinals by longtime rival

Qais Ashfaq Qais Ashfaq (born 10 March 1993) is a British professional boxer. As an amateur, Ashfaq competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics as well as winning a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Early life and education Ashfaq was born in Leeds. He ...

Amateur results

''Incomplete for early years'' *2007 British Cadet (Junior) Championships in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland (flyweight - 1991 division) ** Defeated Nico Morrison (Wales) 7–6 ** Lost to

Gamal Yafai Gamal Yafai (; born 4 August 1991) is a British professional boxer. He held the European super-bantamweight title between 2020 and May 2021 and previously held the Commonwealth super-bantamweight title in 2016. As an amateur he won a bronze me ...

(England) 4–9 *2007 European Union Cadet (Junior) Championships in

Porto Torres Porto Torres (; ) is a (municipality) and a city of the Province of Sassari in north-west of Sardinia, Italy. Founded during the 1st century BC as , it was the first Roman colony of the entire Sardinia, island. It is situated on the coast at abo ...

, Italy (flyweight) ** Lost to Mehmet Topcakan (Turkey) 7–25 *2008 Franko Blagonic Junior Memorial in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

, Croatia (bantamweight) ** Defeated Elvis Dodaj (Croatia) 29–13 ** Lost to Magomed Kurbanov (Russia) WO *2008 British Youth Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland (flyweight - 1991 division) ** Lost to James Dickens (England) 5–8 *2008 Brandenburg Junior Cup in

Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Marchian dialects, Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after Potsdam, Cottbus and Brandenburg an der Havel. With a ...

, Germany (flyweight) ** Defeated Zsolt Dobradi (Hungary) RSCO3 ** Lost to Oualid Belaouara (France) 11–27 *2009 Pyynikki Tournament in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, Finland (bantamweight - youth division) ** Defeated Miikka Koskela (Finland) 5–0 ** Defeated Romans Belousovs (Latvia) RSC3 ** Defeated Allan Cameron (Scotland) WO *2009 Franko Blagonic Youth Memorial in Rijeka, Croatia (bantamweight) ** Defeated Damjan Herljevic (Croatia) AB3 ** Defeated Edgar Walth (Germany) 22–10 *2009 Presidents Cup (youth) in

Grudziądz Grudziądz (, ) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its province. Grudziądz is one of the oldest citie ...

, Poland (bantamweight) ** Lost to Kamil Łaszczyk (Poland) 3–9 *2009 Mostar International Youth Tournament in

Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina (bantamweight) ** Defeated Zlatko Catic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) RSC2 ** Lost to Elian Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 12–18 *2009 British Youth Championships in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England (bantamweight - 1991 division) ** Defeated Peter Cope (England) 9–6 ** Defeated

(Wales) 5–2 *2009 European Youth Championships in

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

, Poland (bantamweight) ** Defeated

Pavlo Ishchenko Pavlo Olehovych Ishchenko (Hebrew: פבלו אולהוביץ' אישצ'נקו; Ukrainian: Павел Олегович Ищенко; nicknamed "Wild Man"; born April 30, 1992) is an Olympic Ukrainian- Israeli boxer who competes as a bantamweight ...

(Ukraine) 6–5 ** Lost to Elvin Isayev (Azerbaijan) 0–1 *2009 Tammer Tournament in Tamprere, Finland (featherweight) ** Defeated Wael Al-Khaghani (Finland) RSC2 ** Defeated Brahim Zendaoui (France) 9–2 ** Lost to Martin Ward (England) 4–9 *2009 Golden Gong in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

, Macedonia (bantamweight) ** Defeated Elian Dimitrov (Bulgaria) *2010 Scottish National Championships in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...

, Scotland (bantamweight) ** Defeated Danny Singh WO ** Defeated John Thomson 4–1 *2010 Gee-Bee Tournament in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland (bantamweight) ** Lost to Zafar Parpiev (Russia) 4–12 * 2010 European Championships in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia (bantamweight) ** Lost to Matti Koota (Finland) 2–9 *

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, India (

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

) ** Lost to

(Namibia) 11–14 *2011 Scottish National Championships in Coatbridge, Scotland (bantamweight) ** Defeated Stephen Tiffney 6–5 ** Defeated David Dickson 10–3 *2011 Beogradski Pobednik in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, Serbia (bantamweight) ** Lost to

Shiva Thapa Shiva Thapa (born 8 December 1993) is an Indian boxer. Thapa participated in the 2012 London Olympics,2011 Great Britain Championships in

, England (bantamweight) ** Defeated Alimaan Hussain (England) 14–8 ** Defeated

(Wales) 25–14 *2011 Tammer Tournament in Tampere, Finland (bantamweight) ** Lost to

(England) 10–12 *2012 Scottish National Championships in Edinburgh/

Inverurie Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and River Don, Aberdeenshire, Don, about north-west of Aberdeen. Geography ...

, Scotland (bantamweight) ** Defeated David Dickson 15–10 ** Defeated Graeme Munro RSC2 *2012 Olympic Gloves Tournament in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, Estonia (bantamweight) ** Defeated Alexandr Bykadorov (Russia) 7–6 ** Lost to

(Wales) 2–6 * 2012 Great Britain Championships in London, England (bantamweight) ** Lost to

(Wales) 14–17 *2012 Tammer Tournament in Tampere, Finland (bantamweight) ** Lost to Michael Nevin (Ireland) 8–18 *2013 Scottish National Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland (bantamweight) ** Defeated Scott McCormack 12–5 ** Defeated Stephen Tiffney 12–11 ** Defeated Kevin Skey 18–11 *2013 Beogradski Pobednik in Belgrade, Serbia (bantamweight) ** Lost to Razvan Andreiana (Romania) 7–10 *2013 Hakija Turajlic Memorial in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina (bantamweight) ** Defeated Othman Arbabi (Qatar) TKO1 ** Defeated David Cufaj (Bosnia and Herzegovina) RSC2 * 2013 European Championships in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, Belarus (bantamweight) ** Defeated Mateusz Mazik (Poland) 2–1 ** Lost to Vladimir Nikitin (Russia) 0–3 * 2013 World Championships in

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

, Kazakhstan (

) ** Defeated Yakub Meredov (Turkmenistan) 3–0 ** Lost to

Mykola Butsenko Mykola Valeriyovych Butsenko (, born 25 June 1991) is a Ukrainian amateur boxer who competes in the bantamweight division. In the quarterfinals of the 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships he defeated Selçuk Eker of Turkey to win his 1st meda ...

(Ukraine) 0–3 *2013 Tammer Tournament in Tampere, Finland (bantamweight) ** Lost to

(England) 0–3 *2014 Scottish National Championships in Glasgow, Scotland (bantamweight) ** Defeated David Dickson 2–1 ** Defeated Brandon Singh PTS *

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland (

) ** Defeated Nadir Nadir (Pakistan) 3–0 ** Lost to

(England) 0–3

Professional career

Ham made his professional debut on 14 December 2014, defeating

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

Dato Kvaratskhelia by first-round

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, ...

(KO) at the Thistle Hotel in

. He won the vacant Scottish Area

super-bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanct ...

title on 15 April 2017, beating Scott McCormack on

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

on the

Ricky Burns Ricky Burns (born 13 April 1983) is a Scottish professional boxer who held the WBO super-featherweight title from 2010 to 2011, the WBO lightweight title from 2012 to 2014, and the WBA light welterweight title from 2016 to 2017. At regional ...

– Julius Indongo undercard for his first title. His employer,

-based construction firm City Building, gave him seven weeks off to train in preparation for the fight. He suffered his first defeat as a professional on 30 June 2018, losing to southpaw

Tyrone McCullagh Tyrone McCullagh (born 9 September 1990) is an Irish former professional boxer. As an amateur, he won bronze at the 2010 European Championships and represented Northern Ireland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games where he reached the quarter-finals. ...

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) 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 ...

with the vacant Celtic super-bantamweight title on the line. After two more victories back home, Ham travelled to

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

to challenge for the vacant WBA Continental super-bantamweight title on 2 November 2019 against

, who had knocked him out of the

quarterfinals. In their rematch five years later, an accidental headclash in the sixth round caused the referee to halt the bout and go to the judges, who awarded Ashfaq the unanimous

technical decision A technical decision is a term used in boxing when a fight has to be stopped because of a headbutt. In mixed martial arts, a technical decision occurs when a fighter is rendered unable to continued by a foul and the majority of the final round ha ...

victory with scores of 70–63, 70–64 and 69–64. In September 2020 it was announced that Ham had signed with

MTK Global MTK Global (Mack The Knife Global) was a boxing and mixed martial arts management and event promotions company founded by Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan and former professional boxer Matthew 'Mack the Knife' Macklin . Originally established in 2 ...

. Ham fought Dennis McCann for the vacant Commonwealth super-bantamweight title at

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, England. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seat ...

in London on 26 November 2022, losing by stoppage in the eighth round. He retired from professional boxing in July 2023 and joined Boxing Scotland as a coach.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Joe Living people 1991 births Scottish male boxers Super-bantamweight boxers Boxers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Boxers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games boxers for Scotland Boxers from Glasgow 21st-century Scottish sportsmen