Lenny Daws (born 29 December 1978) 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 ...

. 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, ...

super lightweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

title twice between 2006 and 2011, and the

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European Union super lightweight title between 2012 and 2014.

Boxing career

Early professional career

Daws made his professional debut on 16 April 2003, defeating Danny Gwilym at the Ice Arena in

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. Over next few years he compiled a record of twelve consecutive victories with wins over the likes of Ernie Smith, Karl Taylor and Oscar Hall. On 12 May 2006, he defeated

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 E ...

at the

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to win the Southern Area light welterweight title. The fight also served as an eliminator for the full British title.

British champion

Daws fought for the British belt on 12 May 2006, in his very next fight. The contest, once again held at the York Hall, saw Daws defeat Northumbrian boxer Nigel Wright via a 12 round points decision. The new champions reign was however to be short lived with the first defence of the title also resulting in a first defeat. Daws lost the belt to

Scotsman The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...

Barry Morrison Barry Morrison (born 8th May 1980) is a Scottish former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2012. He held the British super lightweight title in 2007. Professional career Morrison's first professional fight was in April 2003 at the Yo ...

at the Alexandra Palace in

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, this time by split decision with one judge scoring widely in Daws favour with the other two scoring narrowly to Morrison.

Road back to contention

Following the Morrison defeat, Daws returned to action in May 2007 with a win over Billy Smith and then challenged former opponent Nigel Wright for Wright's English title on 14 November 2007. The contest with Wright again took place at the York Hall and resulted in a draw meaning that Wright retained the belt. He went on to win three more fights before getting another chance to fight for the English title. His chance came on 11 April 2009, and claimed the belt with a win over

Peter McDonagh Peter McDonagh (born 22 December 1977) is an Irish professional boxer. Controversial Irish title fight against Michael Gomez McDonagh fought Michael Gomez on 28 January 2006 for the Irish lightweight title on the undercard of a Bernard Dunne ...

the Southern Area champion. The win gave Daws the opportunity to challenge Ajose Olusegun for his old British title, before Olusegun vacated the belt choosing to fight in an eliminator for the WBC light welterweight instead. This meant that Daws opponent in the other corner for the vacant belt would now be old foe

in a contest to take place on 18 September 2009. The fight itself, at the York Hall once more, saw Daws regain the belt he lost to Morrison and gain revenge over the only man to have beaten him with a 10th round stoppage.

Two time British Champion

The win over Morrison propelled Daws back to the top of the domestic scene as holder of the British light welterweight title. His first defence was against Welshman Jason Cook on 2 February 2010. Cook, a former

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lightweight champion, had taken some time away from the sport only to bounce back and reach the semi-final of the Prizefighter light welterweight tournament. Despite being rocked in the first round Daws did enough to retain the title via a draw with all three judges scoring closely. Daws next defence was held on 9 July 2010 against English champion Steve Williams, Daws retained for the second time after Williams sustained two cuts on his eye which forced his corner to pull him out. On 19 February 2011, in his third defence of the title, Daws lost the belt to

Ashley Theophane Ashley Theophane (born 30 August 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2020. He held the British super-lightweight title from 2011 to 2012 and challenged for the WBA super-lightweight title in 2016. He has fo ...

at the Wembley Arena. Despite taking control in the first half of the fight, Theophane came on strong in the second half and knocked Daws down twice in the 9th round to run out an eventual winner over 12 rounds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daws, Lenny 1978 births Living people People from Morden People from Carshalton English male boxers Boxers from Greater London Light-welterweight boxers