Stuart Hall (born 24 February 1980) 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 bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who competed from 2008 to 2018. He held the
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...
world title from 2013 to 2014, and challenged twice for the same title in 2014 and 2016. 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.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English ...
bantamweight title from 2010 to 2011 and the Commonwealth bantamweight title in 2012.
Early professional career
Hall made his professional boxing debut on 26 April 2008 with a win over Abdul Mghrbel in his home town of
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington under ...
. The win was followed with another victory on 6 October 2008 against undefeated seven fight prospect Dougie Walton this time at the Holiday Inn in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
. The two wins meant an undefeated start to his debut year in the ring.
On 16 January 2009 he recorded his first win of the new year travelling to
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
to defeat Nick Seager before on 29 March 2009 meeting Stuart McFadyen and only registering a draw at the fight held in
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ce ...
. Three more fights followed the McFadyen result with Hall winning on each occasions against the likes of journeyman Anthony Hanna and Jason Thomas and then notably on 11 November travelling to
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...
to meet former British champion
Martin Power
Martin Power (born 14 February 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2012. He held the British bantamweight title from 2005 to 2006 and challenged twice for the Commonwealth bantamweight title in 2006 and 2007.
...
and winning in the 8th round. Hall's first fight of 2010 resulted in another points win on 12 February at the
York Hall
The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure complex in Bethnal Green, London, and is situated on Old Ford Road. The building opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200 and is now an inter ...
against Hungarian Richard Szebeledi meaning that Hall now boasted an unbeaten record of seven wins against only one draw.
British champion
Hall vs. Napa
On 4 June 2010 Hall stepped into the ring against the former British and European champion
Ian Napa
Ian Napa (born 14 March 1978) is a Zimbabwe born British former professional boxer originally. He held the British bantamweight title twice between 2007 and 2012, and the EBU European bantamweight title from 2008 to 2009.
Early professional ...
and claimed the title in a shock result following
Napa's decision not to come out for the start of the 9th round. The experienced Napa had complained about the heat at the venue in
Peterlee
Peterlee is a town in County Durham, England. It lies between Sunderland to the north, Hartlepool to the south, the Durham Coast to the east and Durham to the west. It gained town status in 1948 under the New Towns Act 1946. The act also cr ...
and the fact that the making the bantamweight limit had been very hard. In contrast Hall described the result saying ''"It's unbelievable, a dream come true"'' as he claimed the title in only his 9th professional fight.
Hall vs. Power
Hall returned to the ring shortly afterwards for his first defence on 23 July 2010 with a return match against former victim and former champion
Martin Power
Martin Power (born 14 February 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2012. He held the British bantamweight title from 2005 to 2006 and challenged twice for the Commonwealth bantamweight title in 2006 and 2007.
...
. The fight, this time in
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
, once again resulted in victory for Hall with the referee stopping the contest in the 10th round with Hall having been dominant throughout.
Hall vs. Davies
On 13 November 2010 on the undercard of the Heavyweight world title fight between
David Haye
David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Amat ...
and
Audley Harrison
Audley Hugh Harrison, (born 26 October 1971) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013. As an amateur he represented Great Britain at the 2000 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division an ...
Hall defended his belt for the second time beating former champion
Gary Davies
Gary Davies (born 13 December 1957) is a British broadcaster. From 1982 to 1993 he was a BBC Radio 1 disc jockey and a regular presenter of ''Top of the Pops''.
As of September 2022 Gary Davies can be heard on BBC Radio 2 presenting Saturda ...
in the 7th round and claimed that there was "more to come".
Hall vs. Belt
Hall claimed the
Lonsdale Belt
The Lord Lonsdale Challenge Belt, commonly known as the Lonsdale Belt, is the oldest championship belt in British professional boxing. Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, introduced the prize on behalf of the National Sporting Club (NSC), int ...
outright with a successful third defense on 9 April 2011 beating John Donnelly at the Rainton Meadows Arena in Houghton-le-Spring, stopping him in the fifth round. Hall said of his achievement of winning the belt outright "this is my world title, it's just unbelievable that I've got this for the rest of my life. It's such an achievement for Darlington and the north east."
Hall vs. Butler
On 17 September, 2017, Hall fought
Paul Butler, ranked #5 by the
WBA and IBF and #9 by 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 ...
at bantamweight. Butler won the fight via unanimous decision.
Hall vs. McDonnell
In his next bout, Hall faced
Gavin McDonnell
Gavin McDonnell (born 30 March 1986) is a British professional boxer who has challenged twice for a world super-bantamweight title: the WBC title in 2017, and the WBA title in 2018. He is the twin brother of fellow boxer Jamie McDonnell.
Pro ...
, ranked #3 by the WBC, #4 by the WBA and #11 by the IBF at super bantamweight. McDonnell won the fight via unanimous decision, winning on all three scorecards, 117-111, 117-111 and 115-113.
Professional boxing record
See also
*
List of world bantamweight boxing champions
This is a list of world bantamweight boxing champions, as recognized by the four major sanctioning organizations in boxing:
* The World Boxing Association (WBA), established in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA). The WBA often recognize ...
*
List of British world boxing champions
This is a list of British boxers who have won a world championship by one of the four major sanctioning organisations–the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing ...
References
External links
*
Stuart Hall - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankingsa
Box.Live
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Stuart
1980 births
Living people
English male boxers
Sportspeople from Darlington
Bantamweight boxers
World bantamweight boxing champions
British Boxing Board of Control champions
Commonwealth Boxing Council champions
International Boxing Federation champions