Paul Appleby (born 22 July 1987) is a Scottish 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 2006 to 2014. 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, ...

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

title from 2008 to 2009 and once challenged for the Commonwealth

super featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although firs ...

title in 2011. He is the youngest ever

featherweight champion.

Professional career

Appleby turned professional in January 2006 at the St. Andrew's Sporting Club,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland. In his debut Appleby defeated

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

's Graeme Higginson with a third round stoppage. Appleby defeated John Simpson on 6 June 2008 at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow to claim the British

title. He successfully defended the title against

Esham Pickering Esham Pickering (born 7 August 1976) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2014. He challenged once for the WBO bantamweight title in 2000. At regional level, he held the British super bantamweight title twice betwe ...

on 28 November 2008, winning by unanimous decision. On 25 April 2009 Appleby lost his British title against Martin Lindsay at the

Ulster Hall The Ulster Hall is a concert hall and grade A listed building in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated on Bedford Street in Belfast city centre, the hall hosts concerts, classical recitals, craft fairs and political party conferences. History ...

, Belfast. The fight was stopped in round 6 after some heavy blows from Lindsay, although Appleby did not suffer a knockdown in the fight. On 30 September 2008, Appleby was chosen as Britain's Best Young Boxer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Club. Appleby went on to win the Celtic Super-feather weight title in March 2012 and in November 2012 won the BBofBC 'Contest of the year' with his fight with Liam Walsh, which was classed as a small hall classic on the first night of

BoxNation BoxNation was a British dedicated boxing subscription television channel, operated by Viaplay. The brand is licensed from George Warren's Queensbury Commercial. History BoxNation was launched by Frank Warren Promotions as a free-to-air channe ...

's schedule on 30 September 2011. Appleby fought Stephen Ormond on 10 March 2012 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow and won by a unanimous decision.

References

External links

* Scottish male boxers 1987 births Living people Featherweight boxers People educated at Queensferry High School People from South Queensferry Boxers from Edinburgh {{Scotland-boxing-bio-stub