Rocky Dean (born 17 June 1978) is a British professional boxer from Thetford in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He is a former Southern Area champion at Featherweight and has twice competed for the full British title at Super Bantamweight.

Early Professional Career

Dean made his professional debut on 14 October 1999 defeating Lenny Hodgkins at the Royal National Hotel in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He won his next three contests before losing to journeyman Chris Jickells on 10 November 2000. Dean did not fight at all in 2001, making a return to the ring a year later and winning all three of his fights in 2002. In 2003 Dean failed to win any of his six contests, drawing twice and losing four times in that year. During the year Dean had boxed future Commonwealth champion Isaac Ward twice (one draw, 1 loss) and also met future British champions Michael Hunter and

Martin Power Martin Power (born 14 February 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2012. He held the British bantamweight title from 2005 to 2006 and challenged twice for the Commonwealth bantamweight title in 2006 and 2007. ...

in the ring, losing to them both. Dean boxed twice in 2004 winning on both occasions.

Title challenges

On 5 March 2005 Dean fought for the Southern Area Featherweight title defeating Mickey Coveney over 10 rounds at the Goresbrook Leisure Centre in

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 ...

. The win set up a shot at the vacant English title in his next fight only for Dean to lose for the sixth time in his career to Andy Morris, a man who would go on to claim the full British belt. On 18 September 2005 Dean fought and defeated novice boxer

Gary Davies Gary Davies (born 13 December 1957) is a British broadcaster. From 1982 to 1993 he was a BBC Radio 1 disc jockey and a regular presenter of ''Top of the Pops''. As of September 2022 Gary Davies can be heard on BBC Radio 2 presenting Saturd ...

with a fourth round stoppage win. Davis became the fourth boxer Dean had fought that would go on to become a full British champion. Dean finished the year by traveling to the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

to fight Andrey Isaev only to lose in the 12th round of his challenge for the WBF International title.

Matthew Marsh trilogy

Dean made the first defence of his Southern Area Featherweight title on 9 December 2006 against rising star Matthew Marsh eventually losing the belt on a points decision over 10 rounds. On 14 July 2007 the two met again this time for the Super Bantamweight version of the belt, Marsh again edging a points win over 10 to hold both titles at the same time. Dean fought twice more scoring two wins before meeting Marsh for the third time. Marsh, by now the full British champion at Super Bantamweight defeated Dean for the third time on 21 November 2008 in what was his first defence of the British title at the

York Hall The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure complex in Bethnal Green, London, and is situated on Old Ford Road. The building opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200 and is now an inter ...

in London.

Further challenges

Despite the loss to Marsh for the British title, Dean got a chance to challenge once again for the belt in his very next fight against the new champion

Jason Booth Jason Booth (born 7 November 1977) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2016. He held the IBO super-flyweight title from 2003 to 2004, and challenged once for the IBF super bantamweight title in 2010. At regional level ...

. The two met on 30 June 2009 again at the York Hall only for Booth, making his first defence of the title, to run out a winner over the 12 round distance.BBC Sport , Booth tipped for world title shot
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Rocky 1978 births Living people People from Thetford Super-bantamweight boxers English male boxers