Michael "The Lurcher" Jennings (born 9 September 1977) is a British 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 1999 to 2010. He challenged once for the vacant

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 Boxin ...

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 in 2009. At regional level, he held 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 2005 to 2006. He has 2 sons, Mikey and Jack, and a daughter, Macy.

Professional career

Jennings turned with a 1st-round knockout of Tony Smith. Jennings in his early fights, with victories over

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 ...

fighters such as Lee Molyneux, Brian Coleman and Paul Denton. In May, 2003, Jennings won his first title when he defeated Jimmy Gould for the minor WBU International welterweight title. On 1 October 2004, he won the English welterweight championship with a 5th round stoppage of Chris Saunders.

British Title

In July 2005, he won the vacant British welterweight title with a 1st-round knockout of Jimmy Vincent. On 25 October 2005, Jennings recovered from a 1st round knockdown to go on to defeat Bradley Pryce on points in a defence of his British title. In January 2006, Jennings lost the title via a close split decision defeat to Young Mutley in his second title defence. Following the defeat to Mutley, Jennings returned to the ring in September 2006 to knockout

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

n Rastislav Kovac in 3 rounds. NY Daily News

WBU title

On 7 April 2007, Jennings defeated

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 197 ...

via a unanimous points decision to win the WBU welterweight title. The fight was held at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

on the undercard of

Joe Calzaghe Joseph William Calzaghe ( ; born 23 March 1972) is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified and lineal titles at super-middleweight, and ...

's fight with

Peter Manfredo Jr Peter Manfredo Jr. (born November 26, 1980) is an American former professional boxer and former IBO middleweight champion. He has challenged twice for upper-level world titles, at middleweight and super middleweight, as well as having won the N ...

. On 2 February 2008, Jennings stopped Ross Minter, son of former World champion

Alan Minter Alan Sydney Minter (17 August 19519 September 2020) was a British professional boxer who competed from 1972 to 1981. He held the undisputed middleweight title in 1980, having previously held the British middleweight title from 1975 to 1976, an ...

, in the 9th of a 12-round contest round en route to defending his WBU title.

Vs Miguel Cotto

On 21 February 2009 Jennings was defeated via 5th-round TKO by the now retired five-time, 3 weight world champion

Miguel Cotto Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez (born October 29, 1980) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the first Puerto Rican boxer to win quadruple champion, world titles in fo ...

for the vacant WBO Welterweight Title in New York's, Madison Square Garden.

Championships Held

* British Weltwerweight title * English Welterweight title * WBU International Welterweight title

Notable Bouts

External links

*
Jennings official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Michael 1977 births Living people English male boxers Sportspeople from Chorley Welterweight boxers