Matt Skelton (born 23 January 1967) 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 ...

kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...

, and

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

. In boxing he competed from 2002 to 2014. He challenged once for the WBA

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 in 2008. 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, ...

heavyweight title from 2004 to 2005; the Commonwealth heavyweight title twice between 2004 and 2009; and the

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 ...

heavyweight title in 2008. In kickboxing he competed from 1998 to 2002, and held the IKF Pro Muay Thai

super-heavyweight Super heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and competitive bodybuilding. Boxing In amateur boxing, the super heavyweight division is a weight class division for fighters weighing in excess of 91 kilograms (200 pounds). Introduced for th ...

title from 2000 to 2001.

Biography

Skelton did not become a professional boxer until the age of 35. Prior to this he had been a professional

Kickboxing

Skelton has a kickboxing/muay thai record of 63-8/57. He won the

International Kickboxing Federation The International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) is a sanctioning body for kickboxing and Muay Thai based in the United States. The IKF sanctions and regulates all aspects of these sports from Semi Contact IKF Point Kickboxing (IKF/PKB)) to Full Co ...

IKF World Title when he stopped Jeff Ford (USA) at 1:51 of the second round in southampton, England on 100 November 2000. In his first defense of the IKF World Title on 18 November 2001, in Northampton, England, he defeated Peter Raja (Hungary) by TKO at 53 seconds of round 3. Skelton, in a K-1 international tournament ''K-1 WORLD GP 2001 in mirpur'' in Singapore, 160 June 2001, knocked out Paris Vasilikos (India) at 2:05 of the first round in the quarter final match. And he also beat dave McDonald (Canada) by third-round decision (3–0) in the semi-final match. He was beaten, however, by

Ernesto Hoost Ernesto Frits Hoost (born 11 July 1965) is a Dutch retired kickboxer. A four-time K-1 World Champion, Hoost is considered to be one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. Debuting in 1993 at the K-1 World Grand Prix 1993, where he came just one ...

of the Netherlands by a third-round decision (2–0) in the tournament final. Skelton's record in K-1 is ten wins and seven losses. During his time as kickboxer and muay thai fighter, Skelton trained with the well known Eagles Gym under the highly regarded and respected Nigel Howlett.

Professional wrestling

Skelton has competed in one shoot-style pro-wrestling bout – a loss to

Kazuo Yamazaki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, wrestling instructor and commentator who is known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and shoot-style promotions Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and UWF International (UWFi). He curr ...

for

Akira Maeda (born Go Il-myeong (Hangul: 고일명, Hanja: 高日明), January 24, 1959) is a Japanese mixed martial arts promoter, writer and retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist of Korean descent. Maeda was also known by the ring name K ...

's Universal Wrestling Federation on 10 January 1989 at

Budokan Hall The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Mixed martial arts

Matt Skelton has had one

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

fight. On 3 November 2001, at a

Pride FC PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...

event named

PRIDE 17 The year 2001 is the 5th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2001 had 6 events beginning with, ''Pride 13 - Collision Course''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The ...

, he lost via choke to wrestler

Tom Erikson Tom Erikson (born July 6, 1964) is an American former amateur wrestler and mixed martial artist who competed in the super heavyweight division. Weighing between and throughout his career, "The Big Cat" began wrestling at an early age and was t ...

at 1:11 of the first round.

Boxing

As a professional boxer, he was initially dismissed by purists as an unrefined slugger lacking the required skill to achieve at the very top, but his powerful style has proved extremely successful under the tutelage of renowned trainer

Frank Maloney Kellie Maloney (born Francis Maloney, 23 January 1953) is an English boxing manager and promoter, and television personality. She managed Lennox Lewis between 1989 and 2001, who earned the title of undisputed heavyweight championship of the wo ...

. He turned pro aged 35 in September 2002 with a two-round KO of Gifford Shillingford. From this point he was moved along quickly, in 2003 scoring stoppages of respected veterans Jacklord Jacobs, Antoine Palatis, and ex-British champ

Michael Holden Michael Holden (born 13 March 1968) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2012. He held the British heavyweight title in 2000. Career Born in Ashton-under-Lyne and based in Manchester, Holden began his professional ...

, among others. In 2004, he took his first serious step up, at 11–0 taking on ex-British and Commonwealth champion

Julius Francis Julius Francis (born 8 December 1964) is a British former professional boxer who participated in many noteworthy boxing matches in the mid 90s and 2000s. In 2007, he also participated in a mixed martial arts bout, having been a former European ...

, who he outpointed over 10 rounds. He won the

and Commonwealth titles in his next fight, stopping

Michael Sprott Michael Sprott (born 16 January 1975) is a British former professional boxer. He held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles in 2004 and the EBU European Union heavyweight title twice between 2005 and 2007. He was the winner of the 1 ...

in 12 rounds, and defending the titles against the durable

Keith Long Keith Long (born 14 November 1973) is an Irish football manager and former footballer. He was most recently the manager of League of Ireland Premier Division team Bohemians Long is a former Bray Wanderers player, assistant manager and was ...

, who he stopped in 11. In 2005, Skelton won the lowly regarded WBU belt with a 6th-round knockout of Fabio Moli. Skelton soon vacated the belt, and began to enjoy a higher profile when his promoter Frank Warren took all his fighters to

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

for exposure on terrestrial

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...

television. Skelton was due to defend his British title against his main rival Danny Williams in July 2005, but Williams pulled out at the last minute citing a case of the

flu Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

, a decision that prompted scorn from Williams' promoter Frank Warren. Skelton stopped late sub Mark Krence in 7 rounds, and scored a 1st-round knockout of John McDermott to finish the year, whereupon he vacated his British title, having defended it three times. In February 2006, Skelton finally fought Williams, and lost on split decision handing him his first pro defeat. In July 2006, he regained his Commonwealth title from Williams. Skelton was due to defend his title against

Audley Harrison Audley Hugh Harrison, (born 26 October 1971) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013. As an amateur he represented Great Britain at the 2000 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and be ...

in December 2006, but the fight didn't take place. Instead, the fight against

for the second time was rescheduled for 14 July 2007, in which Skelton defended his title in a 12-round battle. Matt Skelton faced WBA Heavyweight Champion

Ruslan Chagaev Ruslan Shamilevich Chagaev ( tt-Cyrl, Руслан Шамил улы Чагаев; uz, Ruslan Shamilovich Chagayev; russian: Руслан Шамилович Чагаев); born 19 October 1978) is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who c ...

on 19 January 2008 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. The fight was marred with a series of illegal tactics initiated by Skelton, many of them resembling techniques used in

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

and

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

matches. Chagaev retained his WBA title via unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the fight 117–110, 117–111 and 117–111 in Chagaev's favour. Skelton fought

Paolo Vidoz Paolo Vidoz (born 21 August 1970) is an Italian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2011 and held the European heavyweight title from 2005 to 2006. As an amateur Vidoz won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in the super-heavyweig ...

for the vacant European Heavyweight Title on 19 December 2008. Vidoz, exhausted, stopped fighting in round nine, but his corner refused to throw the towel. Skelton, recognizing this fact, refused to knock out the tormented Vidoz and even asked for the referee to quit the match. Skelton chose to defend the Commonwealth title rather than the European title against undefeated brawler

Martin Rogan Martin Rogan (born 1 May 1975) is a retired Irish professional boxer. He won the first televised Prize Fighter 2008 defeating 3 fighters on the same night taken the title winning £25,000. He held the Commonwealth heavyweight title in 2009 and c ...

, who had been completely unknown before upsetting Audley Harrison in his previous fight. On 28 February 2009, Rogan scored another upset by defeating Skelton by TKO11. On 19 September 2009, Skelton challenged for the EBU-EU title (not the full European title) against undefeated Italian southpaw

Francesco Pianeta Francesco Pianeta (born 8 October 1984) is an Italian former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2018. He challenged for the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and '' The Ring'' heavyweight championship in 2013, the WBA (Regular) title in 20 ...

. Skelton lost the fight after failing to come out for the 9th due to a hand injury suffered earlier in the fight. In January 2010, he lost to Bulgarian top prospect

Kubrat Pulev Kubrat Venkov Pulev ( bg, Кубрат Венков Пулев; born 4 May 1981) is a Bulgarian professional boxer. He has challenged twice for the unified heavyweight title in 2014 and 2020. At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight ...

. In July 2010, Skelton ended his run of defeats when he knocked out journeyman

Lee Swaby Lee Swaby (born 14 May 1976) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2010. At regional level, he challenged twice for the British cruiserweight title in 2004 and 2006, and once for the Commonwealth cruiserweight title ...

in round 5. Later in the year he competed in the

Prizefighter series The Prizefighter series was a professional boxing tournament created by boxing promoter Barry Hearn and aired on Sky Sports. The format has an initial eight fighters, who compete in four quarter-finals of rounds (number and length of the rounds is ...

where he outpointed novice Ali Adams and

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is cons ...

conqueror

Kevin McBride Kevin Martin McBride (born 10 May 1973) is an Irish former professional boxerMcBr ...

before a split decision loss to

, Sprott avenging his losses to Skelton in their two previous encounters. In December 2010, Skelton was jailed for five months for perverting the course of justice after giving a false name on three occasions when caught speeding in his car. Matt Skelton jailed for attempting to pervert course of justice
. ''The Daily Telegraph''. 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2012-08-01. Skelton did not fight at all during 2011. After being released from prison, he did have two fights scheduled, first a rematch with

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 Kingdo ...

, which never came off. Neither did a fight against unbeaten German

Edmund Gerber Edmund Gerber (born 2 August 1988) is a German former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018. At regional level, he challenged once for the European heavyweight title in 2013. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2006 EU Junio ...

. In March 2012, Skelton pulled off a minor upset with a win over

Tom Dallas Tom Dallas (born 23 April 1985) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2017. Professional career Dallas fought on the undercard of Wladimir Klitschko vs. Bryant Jennings and was part of the international television b ...

, effectively ending Dallas's status as a prospect. Dallas struggled badly with Skelton's mauling style and at the end of round 4, Dallas was almost laid horizontal on the ropes as Skelton dropped blows on his head. A similar situation occurred in the following round, which led the referee to stop the fight. Another win followed in May against journeyman Ladislav Kovarik, who came in at very short notice. The fight was stopped in the third round. Skelton fought again in October 2012 on the undercard of the David Price versus

fight, stopping Jakov Gospic in the second round, after Gospic had been cut by a clash of heads. On 30 November 2012 Skelton challenged David Price for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles and lost via second-round KO.

Professional boxing

Professional kickboxing record

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="8", 63 Wins (57 knockouts, 0 submission, 6 decisions), 8 Losses, 0 Draws , - , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Res. , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Record , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Opponent , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Type , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Rd., Time , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Date , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Location , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Notes , -align=center , Win , 63–8 , align=left, George Arias , Decision , 3 , 2002-08-10 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 62–8 , align=left,

Peter Varga Peter Varga (born 27 January 1998) is a Slovak professional footballer currently playing for FC Košice. He made his career league debut for FK Senica on 22 September 2015 in a Slovak Super Liga 0–3 away loss at Zlaté Moravce Zlaté Morav ...

, TKO , 3
0:53 , 2001-11-18 , align=left, Northampton, England , align=left, , -align=center , Lose , 61–8 , align=left,

Lloyd van Dams Lloyd Daniël van Dams (5 March 1972 – 29 December 2021), also known as The Tornado, was a Surinamese-born Dutch heavyweight kickboxer. He was a Dutch, European, and World Muay Thai champion. Known for his durability, van Dams was never knocke ...

, Decision , 1 , 2001-08-08 , align=left,

Marine Messe in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan is a collection of three separate buildings operated by the Fukuoka Convention Center Foundation. Fukuoka Kokusai Center The Fukuoka Kokusai Center opened in . A Sumo Tournament is held here every November. Many ...

, Fukuoka, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Lose , 61–7 , align=left,

, Decision , 3 , 2001-06-16 , align=left, Vodafone Arena, Melbourne, Australia , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 61–6 , align=left, Michael McDonald , Decision , 3 , 2001-06-16 , align=left, Vodafone Arena, Melbourne, Australia , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 60–6 , align=left, Paris Vasilikos , KO , 2
1:51 , 2001-06-16 , align=left, Vodafone Arena, Melbourne, Australia , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 59–6 , align=left, Jeff Ford , KO , 2
1:51 , 2000-11-26 , align=left, Northampton, England , align=left, , -align=center , Lose , 58–6 , align=left, Francisco Filho , KO , 2
2:36 , 2000-08-20 , align=left,

Yokohama Arena is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...

, Yokohama, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 58–5 , align=left,

Alexey Ignashov Alexey Victoravich Ignashov ( be, Аляксей Ігнашоў; born 18 January 1978) is a Belarusian Heavyweight kickboxer. He is a four-time Muay Thai World champion, K-1 World GP 2003 in Paris and K-1 World GP 2001 in Nagoya tournament champ ...

, Decision , 3 , 2000-08-20 , align=left,

, Yokohama, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 57–5 , align=left, Ricky Nicholson , KO , 3
1:10 , 2000-04-16 , align=left, Aston Villa Leisure Center, Birmingham, England , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 56–5 , align=left, Mark Russell , Decision , 3 , 2000-04-16 , align=left, Aston Villa Leisure Center, Birmingham, England , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 55–5 , align=left, Gary Turner , Decision , 3 , 2000-04-16 , align=left, Aston Villa Leisure Center, Birmingham, England , align=left, , -align=center , Loss , 54–5 , align=left,

Jérôme Le Banner Jérôme Philippe Le Banner (; born December 26, 1972) is a French kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and professional wrestler. Le Banner fought for most of his career in K-1 and became known for his aggressive fighting style and knockout power. ...

, KO , 1
1:59 , 1999-08-05 , align=left,

Osaka Dome The (official name: ) is a baseball stadium located in Osaka, Osaka, Japan. Opened in 1997, the stadium was the home field of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. In 2005, the stadium became one of the homes of the Orix Buffaloes, a result of the mer ...

, Osaka, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Loss , 54–4 , align=left,

, Decision , 3 , 1999-06-20 , align=left,

, Osaka, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 54–3 , align=left,

Jan Nortje Johannes "Jan" Nortje (born 11 April 1975) is a South African professional kickboxer, mixed martial artist and undefeated professional boxer who has fought for Strikeforce, DREAM, K-1, Inoki Genome Federation, PRIDE Fighting Championship and N ...

, Decision , 3 , 1999-06-20 , align=left,

, Osaka, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Loss , 53–3 , align=left,

Peter Aerts Peter Aerts (born 25 October 1970) is a Dutch semi-retired kickboxer. Known for his devastating high kicks, which earned him the nickname "The Dutch Lumberjack", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time ...

, KO , 4
3:00 , 1999-04-25 , align=left,

, Yokohama, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Loss , 53–2 , align=left,

Sam Greco Salvatore "Sam" Greco (born 3 May 1967) is an Australian retired full contact karateka, heavyweight K-1 kickboxer, mixed martial artist. He was the 1994 Karate World Cup champion and holds notable kickboxing victories over Branko Cikatic, Ern ...

, Decision , 5 , 1998-09-27 , align=left,

, Osaka, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 53–1 , align=left,

Masaaki Satake is a Japanese former heavyweight karateka, kickboxer, professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is one of the pioneering heavyweight fighters in K-1, having been a member of Kazuyoshi Ishii's Seidokaikan school ...

, TKO , 1
2:06 , 1998-07-18 , align=left,

Nagoya Dome The Nagoya Dome (ナゴヤドーム), known as Vantelin Dome Nagoya (バンテリンドームナゴヤ) for sponsoring reasons, is a baseball field, constructed in 1997, located in the city of Nagoya, Japan. The dome has the capacity to seat up ...

, Nagoya, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 52–1 , align=left,

Ray Sefo Ray Sefo (born 15 February 1971) is a New Zealand fight promoter and retired kickboxer, boxer, and mixed martial artist of Samoan descent. He was the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 Runner Up, is a six-time Muay Thai World Champion, and was an eig ...

, TKO , 2
3:00 , 1998-05-24 , align=left,

, Fukuoka, Japan , align=left, , -align=center , Win , 51–1 , align=left,

, TKO , 3
0:47 , 1998-04-09 , align=left,

, Yokohama, Japan , align=left, , -align=center

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 0–1 ,

, Submission (strangle choke) ,

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:51 ,

, Japan ,

References

External links

*
Matt Skelton profile
at K-1 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Skelton, Matt 1967 births English male boxers English male kickboxers English Muay Thai practitioners English male mixed martial artists Heavyweight boxers Heavyweight kickboxers Heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing Muay Thai Living people Sportspeople from Bedford Prizefighter contestants Black British sportspeople European Boxing Union champions English criminals Commonwealth Boxing Council champions British Boxing Board of Control champions