John McDermott (born 26 February 1980) is an English 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 2000 to 2013. He is a three-time challenger for 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, ...

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 ...

title and in his last fight in March 2013, won the English heavyweight title.

Professional career

On 18 April 2008, McDermott won the vacant BBBofC English

title, knocking out Pele Reid in the second round. He had fought for the same title in 2004 losing on that occasion to Mark Krence. In September 2007, he had also become the

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...

for a second shot at the British title after beating Scott Gammer on points over 10 rounds. He had fought for the title once before in December 2005 losing in the 1st round to

Matt Skelton Matt Skelton (born 23 January 1967) is a British former professional boxer, kickboxer, and mixed martial artist. In boxing he competed from 2002 to 2014. He challenged once for the WBA heavyweight title in 2008. At regional level, he held the ...

. McDermott faced Danny Williams at Goresbrook Leisure Centre,

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

on 18 July 2008 for the British Title, but was defeated controversially by a majority points decision. He was defeated again in the rematch on 2 May 2009, via a split points decision. McDermott lost his English heavyweight title to

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the World Boxing Council, WBC title since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020, and ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring'' ...

in another controversial decision on 11 September. Referee Terry O'Connor, scored the fight 98-92 in favour of Fury. After the referee handed the decision to Fury, ''

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

'' commentator Jim Watt asked; "Has he 'Connorgot the names mixed up?" Jim Watt along with other commentators

Glenn McCrory Glenn McCrory (born 23 September 1964) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1993. He held the IBF cruiserweight title from 1989 to 1990, and at regional level held the British and Commonwealth cruiserweight title be ...

Johnny Nelson Ivanson Ranny "Johnny" Nelson (born 4 January 1967) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 2005, and has since worked as a boxing analyst. He is currently the longest reigning world cruiserweight champion of all time, ...

all scored the fight to McDermott, as did

David Haye David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Amate ...

. Fury defeated McDermott in a rematch on 25 June 2010. McDermott won a unanimous points decision against Matt Skelton on 16 March 2013 to regain the English Heavyweight title. He never defended this belt and the vacant title was eventually contested in June 2018, when Daniel Dubois stopped Tom Little.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Profile
at BritishBoxing.net 1980 births Living people People from Horndon-on-the-Hill Sportspeople from Basildon English male boxers Heavyweight boxers England Boxing champions {{England-boxing-bio-stub