Darren "Dazzo" Williams (born 19 March 1974) 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 2001 to 2005. 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, ...

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

title from 2003 to 2005 and challenged once for the Commonwealth and

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

European featherweight titles in 2005.

Career

Amateur career

Born and raised in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, London, and based in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

during his boxing career, Williams, a former soldier, trained at Gelligaer ABC. He won the 1998

Amateur Boxing Association England Boxing, known until 2013 as the Amateur Boxing Association of England, is the Sports governing body, governing body of amateur boxing clubs in England. There are separate organisations for Scotland and Wales with boxing in Northern Irela ...

British featherweight title, when boxing out of the Army ABC.

Professional career

He made his professional debut in February 2001, beating Mickey Coveney via a second-round knockout. After winning eight from his first ten fights, culminating in a narrow title eliminator win against Steve Chinnock, he challenged for Roy Rutherford's British featherweight title in November 2003 at the Kings Hall, Belfast, taking another narrow points decision.Worsell, Elliot (2005)
Cook and Williams set to rumble for all three titles.
, eurosport.co.uk, 13 June 2005. Retrieved 30 August 2015 He made three successful title defences in 2004, beating

Jamie McKeever Jamie McKeever (born 7 July 1979) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2010. He held the British featherweight title in 2003 and challenged once for the Commonwealth featherweight title in 2006. Career Born in Birkenh ...

, Rutherford, and John Simpson (a controversial victory by only one point) to win 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), inten ...

outright.Williams to get Back in the Ring
,

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, 26 March 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2015 In June 2005 he faced

Nicky Cook Nicky Cook (born 13 September 1979), sometimes known by his ring name Cookie, is a British retired professional boxer who competed from 1998–2011. He held the WBO super featherweight title from 2008 to 2009. He challenged once for the WBO ...

, with Cook's Commonwealth and European titles at stake in addition to Williams' British title. Cook knocked Williams out in the second round. Williams retired from boxing after the Cook fight, initially opening the Wye Amateur Boxing Club with Allan Ford, later also going into promotion. In 2008 he staged a 100-round 'spar-a-thon' at Wye ABC to raise money for the club. In 2010 the club won the

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, also known as The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community and The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sect ...

.Hereford Boxing Club's royal honour
, ''

Hereford Times The ''Hereford Times'' is a weekly tabloid newspaper published every Thursday in Hereford, England. Its offices are based in Holmer Road. The editor is John Wilson. The newspaper covers events across the county of Herefordshire as well as some ...

'', 3 June 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Dazzo 1974 births Living people English male boxers Featherweight boxers Boxers from Greater London Sportspeople from Hereford 20th-century English people 21st-century English people