Jim Rock (born 12 March 1972) is an Irish 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 1995 to 2009. He is the only boxer to have held the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

title at four different weights divisions:

light-middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA a ...

, middleweight, super-middleweight and light-heavyweight.

Background

Family

Rock was born into a large family in the

Blanchardstown Blanchardstown () is a large outer suburb of Dublin in the modern county of Fingal, Ireland. Located northwest of Dublin city centre, it has developed since the 1960s from a small village to a point where Greater Blanchardstown is the largest u ...

area of west Dublin. Rock is a cousin of former Irish

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

champion Robbie Murray. Rock is now married with a young family.

TV and film

In 2003, Rock trained

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

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in preparation for his role in the film '' Reign of Fire''. In return, McConaughey worked Rock's corner during his victory over Jason Collins. Rock also trained Geri Halliwell from the Spice Girls in 1999 before they kicked of their world tour in the Point Depot in Dublin. In March 2007, Rock fought a five-round exhibition fight in Dublin against former

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

Michael Carruth Michael Carruth (born 9 July 1967) is a southpaw Irish Olympic boxer from Dublin. He is best known for winning the welterweight gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He turned Pro in 1994 but retired in 2000. Amateur boxing ;Ol ...

. Rock, along with Mick Dowling, co-presents boxing broadcasts for the Irish national television broadcaster, RTÉ.

Boxing career

Rock boxed as an amateur prior to turning professional in November 1995. He won his first fight at the

Point Depot The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall Qu ...

in Dublin, beating the previously unbeaten Craig Lynch the

undercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

of a bill that included fellow Irish boxers

Steve Collins Stephen Collins (born 21 July 1964) is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 1997. Known as the Celtic Warrior, Collins is the most successful male Irish boxer in recent professional boxing history, having held the WBO mi ...

and

Eamonn Magee Eamonn Magee (born 13 July 1971) is a retired Irish professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2007, Retrieved 1 July 2016. becoming the World Boxing Union Welterweight Champion in 2007. He also held the Commonwealth light-welterweight tit ...

. Rock was a veteran of the Dublin professional fight scene; however, he fought out of the Breen Gym in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. Rock is a former WAA Inter-Continental European Super Middleweight, IBC Middleweight, WBF Continental European Light Middleweight, Irish Light Middleweight and Irish Super Middleweight title holder and Irish Middleweight title holder. However, arguably his biggest fight was against Margate based Iranian, Mehrdud " Takaloo" Takalobigashi for the WBU Light Middleweight title which took place in Belfast's

Odyssey Arena The Odyssey Complex, formerly Odyssey Centre, is a sports and entertainment complex located within the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The complex originated in 1992 and came into fruition in June 1998. It opened in December 2 ...

in February 2003. Rock lost this keenly contested fight to an explosive overhand right knock out defeat in the ninth round.

Brian Peters

Rock fought on Brian Peters promotions which were broadcast on

station RTÉ but he has since retired. Derry fighter

John Duddy John Francis Duddy (born 19 June 1979) is an Irish actor and former professional boxer who fought from 2003 to 2010. He challenged once for the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title, losing in his final fight to Julio César Chávez Jr.

once displayed interest in taking on the Dubliner for the Irish middleweight title. Duddy's management attended Rock's 3 June 2006 fight against Kevin Phelan in Dublin, a seventh-round TKO victory for Rock. The fight was initially scheduled for 29 September 2006 at Madison Square Garden, but was then postponed, for a November 2006 bout in Dublin, Ireland which again did not materialise. The speculation of a potential superfight against John Duddy continued into 2007 and a bill including a Duddy/Rock match up and a Bernard Dunne title defense was planned for late summer 2007.A busy summer for Duddy
Ultimately, that fight never took place. Rock was undefeated from 2003 until his retirement in 2009.

References

External links

*
Jim Rock Motors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock, Jim 1972 births Living people Boxers from County Dublin Irish male boxers Middleweight boxers