Danny Dignum (born 17 March 1992) is an English

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 has held the WBO European

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

title since 2019. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

he won a bronze medal at the 2013 World Combat Games.

Early life

Danny Dignum was born on 17 March 1992 in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England. He attended St. Margaret's primary school in his home town of

Bowers Gifford Bowers Gifford is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bowers Gifford and North Benfleet, in southern Essex, England. It is located east of Basildon, between Pitsea and Thundersley. Pillboxes in the surrounding fields tes ...

before attending The Appleton School in

South Benfleet South Benfleet is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Benfleet, in the Castle Point district of Essex, England, 30 miles east of London. It is adjacent to the village of North Benfleet. The Benfleet SS7 post town include ...

. He worked alongside his dad and twin brother as a tarmacer and concreter before taking up boxing full time. After his parents became fed up of he and his twin brother fighting, both began boxing at the age of nine on their father's suggestion.

Amateur career

During a career in which he had around 85 fights with approximately 70 wins, he won the 2012

ABA Championships The England Boxing National Amateur Championships previously known as the ABA Championships is the premier boxing tournament hosted annually by England Boxing. The Championships are 'open' class: any Boxing, boxer who is registered with a club r ...

, a bronze medal at the 2013 World Combat Games and competed at the 2014 European Union Championships as part of the GB Boxing team.

Professional career

Dignum made his professional debut on 26 November 2016, scoring a second-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(TKO) victory over Jimmy White at the

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. After compiling a record of 11–0 (5 KOs) he faced Conrad Cummings for the vacant WBO European

title on 9 November 2019 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 ...

in London. In a fight which saw Cummings receive a point deduction in the second round for repeated use of his elbow and suffer a cut in the fourth from an accidental head clash, Dignum captured the WBO European title via fifth-round TKO after referee Howard Foster stopped the contest to save Cummings from further punishment. He successfully defended the title four months later on 7 March 2020, defeating Alfredo Meli via ninth-round TKO at the Brentwood Centre in

Brentwood, Essex Brentwood is a town in the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the East of England. It is in the London commuter belt, situated 20 miles (30 km) east-north-east of Charing Cross and close by the M25 motorway. In 2017, the popula ...

. Dignum dropped Meli three times with punches to the body – once in the seventh, again in the eighth and for the final time in the ninth – prompting Meli's

corner Corner may refer to: People *Corner (surname) *House of Cornaro, a noble Venetian family (''Corner'' in Venetian dialect) Places *Corner, Alabama, a community in the United States *Corner Inlet, Victoria, Australia *Corner River, a tributary of ...

to throw in the towel as the referee called a halt to the contest.

Professional boxing record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dignum, Danny Living people 1992 births English male boxers Middleweight boxers Southpaw boxers Sportspeople from Essex English twins