Ray Close (born 20 January 1969 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 ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

) is a British retired boxer who fought for most of his career in the

Super Middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

division, ending his career in the

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight. The light heavyweight class has ...

division. He is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, commonly

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

. He grew up in east Belfast and attended Knockbreda High School.

Professional career

Close turned professional in October 1988, winning his first fight at the

Ulster Hall The Ulster Hall is a concert hall and grade A listed building in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated at 34 Bedford Street in Belfast city centre, the hall hosts concerts, European classical music, classical Concert#Recital, recitals, craft fai ...

, Belfast, when he knocked out

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 ...

's Steve Foster in the second of six rounds on a card that included fellow Northern Irish boxers

Eamonn Loughran Eamonn Loughran (born 5 June 1970) is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 1987 to 1996. He held the WBO welterweight title from 1993 to 1996, successfully defending the title five times. At regional level he held the Commonweal ...

and

Sam Storey Samuel Storey (born 9 August 1963 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a former professional boxer. Storey fought at Super Middleweight and won the British title in 1995. From Marsden Gardens in North Belfast, one the areas of Belfast hit hardest d ...

. In his seventh bout he beat Rocky McGran to win the vacant Irish Super Middleweight title. He successfully defended the title against

Terry Magee Terry Magee (born 1 November 1964, Belfast) is a retired professional Irish boxer. Magee, the older brother of Eamonn and Noel, fought at Light Middleweight but also fought at heavier weights towards the end of his career. Background Magee g ...

, the older brother of Eamonn and

Noel Noel or Noël may refer to: Christmas * , French for Christmas * Noel is another name for a Christmas carol Places * Noel, Missouri, United States, a city *Noel, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community *Noel Park, a suburb in Greater London, Engla ...

, in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 1991. In 1993, he defeated

Vincenzo Nardiello Vincenzo Nardiello (born 11 June 1966) is a retired former world champion Italian boxer in the super middleweight division. He was a WBC world champion in that division. Early life and amateur career Nardiello was born in Stuttgart, Baden-Wür ...

to win the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

European Super Middleweight title in Italy.

Eubank fights

Later the same year Close faced

Chris Eubank Christopher Livingstone Eubank (also Christopher Livingstone Eubank Sr. born 8 August 1966) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1998. He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) middleweight and super-middlewei ...

for 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 Boxin ...

Super Middleweight title. In what would be the first of his two fights against Eubank, the match was declared a draw. After an October win against Ray Domenge, Close again faced Eubank in a rematch at Belfast's King's Hall. Despite having the partisan Belfast crowd behind him, Close lost the match on a split points decision. Both fights with Eubank caused considerable controversy, as Eubank floored Close in the first and had him on the verge of a knockout, yet the fight was declared a draw. The second fight, in which Close performed better, was deemed a points loss.

Revoked licence and retirement

A third fight with Eubank was scheduled in 1995. However shortly before the match the

British Boxing Board of Control The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom. History The British Boxing Board of Control was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Cardiff. ...

revoked Close's licence after he failed an

MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...

scan. Two lesions were subsequently found on his brain. Although Close had his British licence revoked he obtained a licence in the US from the Illinois State Boxing Commission. Close generally fought journeyman boxers in the United States, and finished his career with a run of five straight victories with his last fight being against

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

's Larry Willis in which Close won by a knockout in the fifth of eight rounds. There was some press speculation in 2002 that Close was going to make a return to the ring in an unlicensed boxing event in Belfast, however the fight did not materialise.irish-boxing.com

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Ray 1969 births Living people Boxers from Belfast Male boxers from Northern Ireland Super-middleweight boxers