Kevin Anderson (born 26 April 1983) is a Scottish

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 2003 to 2008. He held the Commonwealth

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 ...

title from 2005 to 2007 and the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

welterweight title from 2006 to 2008.

Early professional career

Anderson's first fight as a professional took place during April 2003 at the

York Hall The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure centre in Bethnal Green, London. The building opened in 1929 and it is most famous as an international boxing venue with the first nights o ...

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

winning his fight in the second round against Paul Mcllwaine. An explosive beginning to his pro career saw him stop each of his next three opponents before going the distance for the first time against Sergey Starkov the tough Russian journeyman. One more points win that year against Frenchman Alban Mothie saw Anderson finish his debut year with an impressive record of 6–0. The fight against Mothie was also notable for the fact that it was the first time Anderson had fought in his native Scotland as a professional boxer. All his previous fights that year having been south of the border. A further six fights and six wins were had during 2004 taking the young prospects record up to 12-0 by the end of that year. The reward for this came in January 2005 when Anderson would fight for the Celtic welterweight title in

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 ...

, taking on and beating

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's Glenn McClarnon who had just challenged David Barnes for the full British title in his previous fight. The bout ended in the 4th round when a clash of heads caused a cut above McClarnon's eye and forced the stoppage handing victory and a first career title to Anderson.

British & Commonwealth champion

The new Celtic champion fought once more that year before meeting reigning champion Joshua Okine for the Commonwealth welterweight crown at the Ice Rink in Kirkcaldy, Anderson's home town. The fight was Anderson's toughest test to date with the Scot scoring a split decision win over the man from Ghana who had just beaten British champion

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People *Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom * Barnes, London, England ** Barnes railway station **Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes High Stree ...

in his previous fight. In March 2006 Anderson defended his newly won title with a victory over fellow Scot Craig Dickson. In June 2006, Anderson travelled south to the Aston Villa Leisure Centre in order to meet British title holder Young Mutley in a unification clash and according to some reports produced one of the comebacks of the year in order to take both belts home. Anderson had been put down in the 2nd round and suffered a nasty cut in the 4th and both fighters were taking some heavy punches before a left hook from Anderson left Mutley reeling in the 10th round. A punch that eventually led to the referee stopping the fight. The man from Kirkcaldy was the new unified British and Commonwealth title holder. One more non-title fight that year saw Anderson finish 2006 with two belts and an unbeaten record of 18–0.

Defeat to Nuumbembe

Former soldier Ali Nuumbembe was the first man to defeat the Scot in a professional ring. The man from

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challenged for the Commonwealth title in February 2007 and ran out a close split decision winner in a fight which took place in Anderson's backyard, the

Ice Rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

. Despite still have the consolation of holding the British belt Anderson was left fuming by the scoring of the fight made by one of the judges saying ''"It was ridiculous. It was like fighting in Italy...I thought I won six out of the first seven and was a round ahead by the time we went into the 12th round...I thought I nicked that round so I couldn't believe that scorecard. But I will come back, I have plenty of time on my side."'' He was however himself considered fortunate by some to get through the 8th after a cut above his left eye left Anderson struggling to get through the round.

British champion

Anderson's next fight saw him defend his British title against Irishman and former WBU champion

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 ...

with Anderson claiming that the fight was a great improvement on his last saying ''"It was a great win. The key was just getting my head right...I was on my toes for the whole 12 rounds. It's a great achievement."'' In September 2007 he followed the win up with another defence against England's Francis Jones in a fight that proved to be a lot tougher than might have first been thought. Anderson had Jones down in the 10th round before the referee stepped in to stop the fight in the 12th. Speaking after what was now his second defence of his title Anderson said ''"I was giving him some of my best shots but, to be fair to him, he kept taking them and coming back for more...I thought as the fight went into the later stages that his corner might have pulled him out but he kept coming back for more and more, so all credit to the lad. He gave it everything."''

Fights with Kevin McIntyre

Fellow Scot Kevin McIntyre stunned the British boxing in November 2007 when in what was to be Kevin Anderson's third defence of the title he found himself thoroughly outboxed and put down a number of times by the challenger. McIntyre himself had suffered a number of defeats in his boxing career and was thought to have found his level before winning a unanimous eventual decision to claim the title. An immediate rematch clause was applied and the two boxers found themselves facing each other once again in February 2008. The fight ended in another win for a delighted McIntyre who said after claiming another points win "I needed to prove the last fight wasn't a fluke...Anderson showed that he might have been under par in the first fight but he wasn't tonight, he showed that he was a tough fighter" The back to back defeats to McIntyre left Anderson needing to refocus and saw the former champion take some time off from the sport. Speaking to

Boxing News ''Boxing News'' is a British weekly boxing magazine published by iD Sports Media. It is the oldest boxing magazine still in publication. History John Murray, a regular contributor to ''Health & Strength'' magazine, convinced its owner, Bill Ber ...

about his break from the ring he said ''"I needed some time away, to spend with my two kids, to get my head right and around the McIntyre fights. I moved house, had a kid, moved house again, had another kid. I needed the break"''Boxing News , Interview with Kevin Anderson

References