Steven Bendall (born 1 December 1973) 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 ...

who competed from 1997 to 2013. He held the BBBofC English

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

title twice in 2005 and 2008 and the IBO Inter-Continental middleweight title from 2001 to 2003. Bendall boxed to national level as an amateur before turning professional in May 1997, winning his first fight at the Rivermead Leisure Centre,

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

, England, in which Bendall knocked out Hackney's Dennis Doyley on an undercard that included

Junior Witter Junior Witter (born 10 March 1974) is a British former world champion professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2015. He held the WBC light welterweight world title from 2006 to 2008 and challenged once for the IBF light welterweight title ...

and Tony Booth. Bendall's explosive knockout power lead him to win his first 14 fights, the majority inside the distance, before he fought for his title fight when he took on Brendan Ingle trained Jason Collins in December 2001 for the

WBU The World Boxing Union (WBU) was a boxing sanctioning body. The original WBU was founded in January 1995 by IBF European representative, boxing journalist, actor and former holder of the title of Britain's heaviest man Jon W. Robinson. It sa ...

Intercontinental Middleweight Title. Bendall continued his winning streak beating Collins on points to win his first title as a professional. He then added the Vacant IBO Inter-Continental Middleweight Title in March 2002 when he knocked out

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Viktor Fessetchko. His first defeat came in September 2004 when he lost to dangerous English fighter

Scott Dann Scott Dann (born 14 February 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre back for club Reading. He began his Football League career with Walsall, before moving on to Coventry City and then to Birmingham City in 2009. Af ...

during his challenge for the Vacant British Middleweight Title. Bendall later won the English Middleweight Title but then lost it to Wayne Elcock. He has also challenged for the EBU European Middleweight Title losing in the 3rd round against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Sebastian Sylvester Sebastian Sylvester (born 9 July 1980) is a German former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2011 and held the International Boxing Federation, IBF middleweight title from 2009 to 2011. Professional career In March 2007 Sylvester ret ...

and the Commonwealth Middleweight title losing to

Darren Barker Darren Barker (born 19 May 1982) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2013. He held multiple titles at middleweight, including the IBF title in 2013; the Commonwealth title from 2007 to 2009; the British title in 2 ...

. Bendall shot back up to title winning prominence when in June 2008 he defeated Liverpool's

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Silver medalist Paul Smith over 10 rounds in Birmingham. It was Smiths first defeat as a professional. On 7 December 2013 in

Neuwied Neuwied () is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne. Th ...

, Bendall was given a chance to fight the dangerous Ghanaian John Akulugu for the vacant WBU

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

World Title and proceeded to stop him with a 6th-round KO. Akulugu who had won his last 9 fights all by KO was also down in round 2 and round 4. The same month

Roy Jones Jr. Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American former professional boxer who holds dual American and Russian citizenship. He competed in boxing from 1989 to 2018, and held multiple world championships in four weight classes, inc ...

took the WBU Cruiserweight World Title. Bendall currently runs his own gym in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

References

External links

*
Personal website of Steve Bendall
1973 births English male boxers Living people Sportspeople from Coventry Middleweight boxers {{England-boxing-bio-stub