David Bankole Adeleye (born 16 November 1996) is a British

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 ...

. 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 competed at the 2013 English National Junior Championships in the

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

event.

Early life

Adeleye was born on 16 November 1996 in London, England, the son of Nigerian parents who hailed from

Ikole Ikole is a Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Ikole. The current Chairman of the Local Government is Prince Olominu Sola Ebenezer, who polled a total of 21,228 votes to defeat other candidates in the ...

Ekiti State Ekiti State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkìtì) is a state in southwestern Nigeria, bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the northeast by Kogi State, to the south and southeast by Ondo State, and to the west by Osun State. Named for the Ekiti peo ...

, Nigeria. Adeleye's parents never wished for him to go into

professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...

until he had at least finished

higher-education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completio ...

. When Adeleye was growing up, he admired

Lennox Lewis Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a former professional boxer and boxing commentator who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hold ...

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

and

Roy Jones Jr. Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American former professional boxer who holds dual American and Russian citizenship. He competed in boxing from 1989 to 2018, and held multiple world championships in four weight classes, inc ...

Amateur career

Adeleye began boxing at the Dale Youth Club, at the age of fourteen, under the tutelage of Gary McGuiness. He became Junior ABA champion in 2013, and winning the Senior ABA Novices in 2017 before winning the Senior ABA title in 2018. He later represented England in an international against Denmark in 2018 and secured gold at the British Universities and Colleges Sport Boxing Championships.

Professional career

On 12 July 2019, it was confirmed that Adeleye had turned professional under Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions banner. Adeleye made his professional debut on 21 December 2019, on the undercard of Daniel Dubois against

Kyotaro Fujimoto is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 2011 to 2019 and a kickboxer. He began competing again as a professional kickboxer in 2021. He is the former K-1 Heavyweight Champion and successfully defended the title against kickbo ...

for the vacant

WBC Silver The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

heavyweight title at the

Copper Box Arena The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted mo ...

in London. The referee, Mark Bates, called a halt to proceedings as Adeleye defeated Lithunaian fighter Dmitrij Kalinovskij via

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) in the first round. On 10 July 2020, Adeleye returned with a second-round knockout over Matt Gordon at the BT Sport Studio in London. Adeleye's third fight was a return to the BT Sport Studio on 29 August against Phil Williams, whom Adeleye stopped in the third round, achieving his third knockout victory in a row. Adeleye fought

Fabio Wardley Fabio Wardley (born 18 December 1994) is a British professional boxer who has held the British heavyweight title since 2022. Boxing career Professional career Managed by Dillian Whyte Dillian Whyte (; born 11 April 1988) is a British pr ...

on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia for the vacant Commonwealth heavyweight strap, Wardley’s British championship, and Adeleye’s

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 Boxing ...

European heavyweight belt. He lost the fight via TKO in the 7th round which resulted in him losing his undefeated record. Adeleye was knocked down in the 7th round from a brutal left hook, which left him flat on his back, before managing to get back up on 9 seconds of the 10 count. Wardley then unleashed a barrage of punches with nothing coming back from Adeleye, resulting in the referee calling a stop to the fight at 2:43 of the 7th round, thereby declaring Wardley the winner by technical knock-out. Adeleye protested the stoppage and assaulted the referee John Latham, which will likely draw a punishment from 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. ...

Personal life

Adeleye, who had combined

amateur boxing Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

with his studies, graduated in 2018 from the

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mech ...

with a degree in

business management Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

, in which his dissertation was on the business aspect of boxing.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adeleye, David 1996 births Living people Heavyweight boxers Super-heavyweight boxers English male boxers Boxers from London English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent Black British sportsmen Alumni of the University of Wolverhampton