Jonathan Thaxton (born 10 September 1974) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2009. He held the British

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight b ...

title from 2006 and 2007, and the EBU European title from 2008 to 2009.

Professional career

He had his first professional fight in December 1992, beating Scott Smith on points over six rounds in

Stoke on Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surrou ...

. In his early career he fought as a light-welterweight. His first fight for a major title was in September 1996, when he won the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

Intercontinental Light-Welterweight title, beating Bernard Paul of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

on points. In November 1997, he won the IBF Intercontinental Light-Welterweight title, beating Rimvidas Bilius of Lithuania on points. In September 1998, he lost both titles, when he lost to the American,

Emanuel Augustus Emanuel Augustus (born Emanuel Ya'kov Burton, January 2, 1975), is an American former professional boxer from Brownsville, Texas who competed from 1994 to 2011. He was known as The Drunken Master, taken from the Jackie Chan films of the same n ...

, being knocked out in the seventh. In November 1999, he fought Jason Rowland for the British light-welterweight title, losing when the fight was stopped in the fifth. In October 2000, he had another shot at the now vacant British light-welterweight title when he fought Ricky Hatton. Despite Hatton being cut badly in the first round, he went on to defeat Thaxton on points. In February 2002, he fought

Eamonn Magee Eamonn Magee (born 13 July 1971) is a retired Irish professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2007, Retrieved 1 July 2016. becoming the World Boxing Union Welterweight Champion in 2007. He also held the Commonwealth light-welterweight titl ...

for the Commonwealth light-welterweight title, losing when the fight was stopped in the sixth. Between 2002 and 2004, Thaxton spent two years out of the ring with a shoulder injury after a road accident.

WBF title

In April 2005, he knocked out Frenchman Christophe De Busillet in the fourth, to take the vacant World Boxing Foundation (WBFo) world lightweight title. In September 2005, he defended the title against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

n Vasile Dragomir, scoring a knockout in the fourth round.

British title

In December 2006, he fought Lee Meager, the holder of the British lightweight title. Thaxton scored a unanimous points victory to take the title. In March 2007, he defended the British lightweight title against Scott Lawton, winning by a technical knockout in the seventh. In October 2007, he defended the British lightweight title again, this time against Dave Stewart, winning by a technical knockout in the twelfth round.

European title challenge

In April 2008, he challenged

Yuri Romanov Yuri Romanov (born 24 July 1982, Minsk, Belarus) is a Belarusian professional boxer who fights in the lightweight division. Professional career Debut fight Romanov's first fight as a professional boxer was in April 2002, in Molodechno, Belar ...

, of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, for his European lightweight title. The fight was stopped at the start of the sixth when Thaxton's corner refused to let him come out due to bad cuts. This was Thaxton's first defeat after twelve straight wins. On 4 October 2008, Thaxton captured the vacated European lightweight title in the third round of the contest against Spaniard Juan Carlos Melero Diaz.

Titles

**IBF Inter-Continental light-welterweight champion **WBO Inter-Continental light welterweight champion **WBF World Lightweight champion **British Lightweight champion **European Lightweight champion

Professional boxing record

References

External links

Fight stats

The Official Website of Jon Thaxton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thaxton, Jonathan 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Norwich English male boxers Lightweight boxers