Gavin Rees (born 10 May 1980) is a retired
Welsh former professional boxing world champion who competed from 1998 to 2014. He held the
WBA super lightweight title from 2007 to 2008 and challenged once for the
WBC lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing.
Boxing
Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing.
Notable lightweight ...
title in 2013. 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, ...
lightweight title twice between 2010 and 2012, and the
EBU European lightweight title from 2011 to 2012.
Career
After a successful amateur career, Rees turned professional in 1998.
World champion
In 2007, Rees defeated
Souleymane M'baye
Souleymane M'baye (born March 21, 1975) is a French professional boxer and is the former WBA super-lightweight champion. He won the vacated title by a fourth technical knockout on September 2, 2006 against Raul Horacio Balbi. His defeats came ag ...
to become the
WBA Light Welterweight champion with a unanimous decision after 12 rounds.
Rees however lost his World title in his first defence via a 12th-round TKO loss to
Andreas Kotelnik in March 2008.
Further success
Following his world title loss Rees was out of action for more than a year before returning in August 2009 to beat Johnny Greaves in 4 rounds. On 4 December, Rees entered the light welterweight
prizefighter competition beating
Ted Bami in the quarter-finals,
Jason Cook in the semi-finals and
Colin Lynes
Colin Lynes (born 26 November 1977) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1998 to 2017. He held the IBO super lightweight title from 2004 to 2005. At regional level, he held the British super lightweight title in 2007; the ...
in the Final to win the £32,000 prize
Following his Prizefighter victory, Rees moved down to the (lightweight) division where he enjoyed instant success winning the British title in 2010 (which he then vacated). He has since won the European title in June 2011 and most recently regained the British title in July 2012.
Rees fought
Adrien Broner for the
World Boxing Council
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 ...
lightweight world title at
Boardwalk Hall
Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, formerly known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is a multi-purpose arena in Atlantic City in Atlantic County, New Jersey. It was Atlantic City's primary convention center until the opening of the Atlant ...
in
Atlantic City, New Jersey on 16 February 2013. He lost the fight via 5th-round TKO.
Personal life
Rees lives in
Pantside,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and has five children all girls. Rees is now a boxing trainer in his hometown of Pantside, Newbridge at The Rocks Gym.
Professional boxing record
See also
*
List of Welsh boxing world champions
*
List of world light-welterweight boxing champions
This is a chronological List of World Super Lightweight/Light Welterweight/Junior Welterweight Boxing Champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations:
* The World Boxing Association (WBA), founded in 1921 as the Nati ...
*
List of British world boxing champions
References
External links
*
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Gavin
1980 births
Living people
Welsh male boxers
People from Newbridge, Caerphilly
Sportspeople from Caerphilly County Borough
Lightweight boxers
Prizefighter contestants
British Boxing Board of Control champions
European Boxing Union champions
World light-welterweight boxing champions
World Boxing Association champions