Nigel Wright (boxer)
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Nigel Wright (born 22 June 1979 in
Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
) is a professional boxer, fighting out of
Crook, County Durham Crook is a market town in the Durham County Council unitary authority and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is located on the edge of Weardale and sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to Weardale". Crook lies about south-west ...
. He is a southpaw fighter standing at , with a record of 24-6-1, with 10 KOs and is a three-time English light welterweight champion and a two-time challenger for both the British and the Commonwealth titles. Prior to his professional career he beat M. Lomax on 30 March 2000 in the National ABA Championships at the
Metrodome The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League's (NFL) ...
in
Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...
, to become ABA (light welterweight) Champion.2000 – 113th National ABAE Championships


Professional boxing career


Early professional career

Nigel made his professional debut on 10 February 2001 defeating Keith Jones at the Kingway Leisure Centre in
Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...
. He won his next four fights establishing an unbeaten record of 5-0 before suffering a first career defeat at the hands of future British champion Kevin McIntyre. Wright rebounded from the setback to score a string of seven further victories and so setting up a challenge for the English light welterweight title having established a record of 12-1.


English champion

The fight for the English belt on 11 March 2005 took place at the Doncaster Dome and saw the unbeaten Dean Hickman (12-0) in the opposite corner. Wright won the contest with a knock out in the 7th round and so claimed a first career title. One successful defence followed against Alan Bosworth on 27 May 2005 and this was followed up by a revenge win over Scotsman Kevin McIntyre on 5 November 2005, stopping him in the first round. One more win followed before Wright challenged
Lenny Daws Lenny Daws (born 29 December 1978) is a British professional boxer. He held the British Boxing Board of Control, British super lightweight title twice between 2006 and 2011, and the European Boxing Union, EBU European Union super lightweight tit ...
for the vacant British title on 12 May 2006 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 ...
in Bethnal Green. The challenge was to end in disappointment with Wright suffering a second career defeat, losing over 12 rounds. Compensation for the defeat came in his very next fight on 4 November 2006, picking up the now vacant English belt, beating Gary Reid to become a two-time English champion.


Tournaments

Wright followed up the Reid win with a victory over American Jonathon Nelson as part of the UK vs USA Contender challenge at the Metro Arena in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
and then fought former British champion
Lenny Daws Lenny Daws (born 29 December 1978) is a British professional boxer. He held the British Boxing Board of Control, British super lightweight title twice between 2006 and 2011, and the European Boxing Union, EBU European Union super lightweight tit ...
for his English belt, this time keeping hold of the belt by scoring a draw. On 8 February 2008 he challenged Ajose Olusegun for the Commonwealth belt only to lose for the third time in his career. A further defeat followed in his very next fight, travelling to Limerick and losing to Paul McCloskey over 10 rounds. On 24 October 2008, Wright moved up a weight division to take part in the Prizefighter tournament featuring the welterweights. He defeated another former English champion, Ross Minter, in the quarter-finals only to lose to eventual tournament winner
Michael Lomax Michael Lucius Lomax (born October 2, 1947) is an American educator and former elected official who has served as president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund since 2004. From 1997 to 2004, he served as president of Di ...
in a controversial semi. Wright rebounded from the defeat to Lomax with a victory over journeyman Arek Malek. The fight set him up for a further crack at the British and Commonwealth titles now both held by former opponent Ajose Olusegun on 12 June 2009 at the Olympia 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 ...
, only to lose once again via a points decision.


Win against Arthur and English title

On 5 December 2009 Wright returned to action and bounced back from the defeat to Olusegan with his biggest win to date, beating former WBO super-featherweight champion Alex Arthur in an 8-round points decision. The fight, on the undercard of Amir Khan's WBA world title defence against
Dmitriy Salita Dmitry Oleksandrovych Salita (born Dmytro Oleksandrovych Lekhtman, April 4, 1982) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer. Born in Ukraine, he grew up in New York City from the age of nine. Salita is a practicing Orthodox ...
was a step up for Wright who rose to the challenge to cause a major upset and have Arthur questioning his future in the sport. On 23 July 2010 Wright claimed the English title, for the third time beating Dean Harrison over 10 rounds and despite being given a count in the 7th round after touching down. Wright had stated before the fight that should he win the contest with Harrison, another shot at the British title would be his main aim, a title which at the time was held by old rival
Lenny Daws Lenny Daws (born 29 December 1978) is a British professional boxer. He held the British Boxing Board of Control, British super lightweight title twice between 2006 and 2011, and the European Boxing Union, EBU European Union super lightweight tit ...
. On 12 February 2011 Wright beat the undefeated Jamie Speight in a six-round contest at the Olympia in Liverpool, winning by stoppage in the 5th round.This is Plymouth , Speight stopped in fifth round by Wright
On 28 May 2011 he defeated Nicki Smedley over 10 rounds in Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Sheffield to defend his English title.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Nigel English male boxers 1979 births Living people England Boxing champions Sportspeople from Bishop Auckland Prizefighter contestants Light-welterweight boxers