Xu Can (; born March 9, 1994) is a Chinese
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 held the
WBA (Regular)
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...
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, t ...
title from 2019 to 2021. As of December 2021, Xu is rated as the world's ninth-best active featherweight by
''The Ring'' magazine, and tenth by
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
and
BoxRec.
Professional career
Early career
Xu turned professional in 2013. His first 14 fights ended in decision, of which he was victorious in 12 of them. In his 15th fight on October 3, 2017, he recorded his first stoppage win against former
WBA (Regular)
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...
super bantamweight champion
Nehomar Cermeño
Nehomar Andrés Cermeño Febres (born June 7, 1979) is a Venezuelan professional boxer who held the WBA (Regular) super bantamweight title from 2016 to 2017. He also held the WBA interim titles at bantamweight and super bantamweight between 20 ...
, prevailing via seventh-round
corner retirement
A corner retirement or corner stoppage – abbreviated "RTD (Retired)" by BoxRec – are terms used in boxing to describe a fight that ends when, during any rest period between rounds, a boxer refuses to continue or their corner pulls them out, ...
. The win saw Xu capture the vacant WBA International featherweight title.
WBA (Regular) featherweight champion
Xu vs. Rojas
Xu was rewarded for his twelve fight winning streak with the opportunity to challenge the reigning
WBA (Regular) featherweight champion
Jesús Rojas. The bout was scheduled for the undercard of the
Jaime Munguia
Jaime is a common Spanish and Portuguese male given name for Jacob (name), James (name), Jamie, or Jacques. In Occitania Jacobus became ''Jacome'' and later ''Jacme''. In east Spain, ''Jacme'' became ''Jaime'', in Aragon it became ''Chaime'', and ...
and
Takeshi Inoue WBO super-welterweight title fight, which took place at the
Toyota Center
Toyota Center is an indoor arena located in Houston. It is named after the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The arena is home to the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and it was once the home of the Hous ...
in
Houston, Texas, on January 26, 2019, and was broadcast by
DAZN
DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet.
The ...
and
Canal Space. Xu won the fight, which BoxingScene dubbed an early candidate for "Fight of the Year", by unanimous decision. He was awarded scorecards of 116–112, 117–111 and 118–110. Both fighters threw a combined 2574 strikes total, with Xu landing 380 and Rojas 388 total punches. Xu became only the third Chinese world boxing champion, after
Xiong Chaozhong
Xiong Chaozhong or Xiong Zhaozhong (born October 3, 1982) is a Chinese professional boxer. He is the first Chinese/Hmong to win a boxing world title, having held the WBC mini-flyweight title from 2012 to 2014.
Early life
Xiong was born in rura ...
and
Zou Shiming
Zou Shiming (; born 18 May 1981) is a Chinese former professional boxer who competed from 2013 to 2017 and held the WBO flyweight title from 2016 to 2017. As an amateur, Zou is China's most successful boxer of all time. In the light-flyweight div ...
.
Xu vs. Kubo
Xu made his first title defense against the former WBA Regular featherweight champion
Shun Kubo on May 26, 2019, at the Fuzhou Sports Center Gymnasium in his native
Fuzhou, Jiangxi
Fuzhou (,), also known as Gandong (), is a prefecture-level city in the northeastern part of Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China.
Fuzhou is located to the south of the provincial capital Nanchang, bordered in the east by Fujian Province ...
. He successfully retained his title with a sixth-round technical knockout of Kubo. Xu first knocked Kubo down near the end of the third round, before stopping the Japanese challenger with a flurry of punches at the 1:16 minute mark of the sixth round.
Xu vs. Robles III
In his next title defense, Xu defeated
Manny Robles III by unanimous decision, with scores of 120–108, 119–109, 118–110, on November 23.
Failed Warrington negotiations
Talks were held in 2020 and early 2021 to try to make Xu's third defense of his title against the
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
champion at the time,
Josh Warrington
Josh Warrington (born 14 November 1990) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world featherweight champion, having held the IBF title between 2018 and 2022. At regional level, he held the British, Commonwealth, European and WBC I ...
. However, the fight was postponed due to disagreements from both sides: Xu wanted fans present at the fight, and Warrington refused to leave the United Kingdom to fight on Chinese soil. The chances of Xu and Warrington ever fighting were dramatically reduced when Warrington subsequently vacated his IBF title and then lost to the unheralded
Mauricio Lara
Mauricio Lara Acosta (born 23 February 1998) is a Mexican professional boxer. He held the WBA featherweight title in 2023. As of October 2022, Lara is ranked as the world's best active featherweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, ...
in February 2021, when he was sensationally knocked out by Lara in an upset defeat.
Xu vs. Wood
On July 6, 2021, it was announced that Xu would be defending his WBA (Regular) title against
British featherweight champion Leigh Wood in
Brentwood, England on July 31 as part of
Matchroom's Fight Camp. Despite being a -350 favorite, Xu was outboxed during periods of the fight, and suffered an upset defeat via twelfth-round technical knockout.
Personal life
Xu was born in
Fuzhou, Jiangxi
Fuzhou (,), also known as Gandong (), is a prefecture-level city in the northeastern part of Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China.
Fuzhou is located to the south of the provincial capital Nanchang, bordered in the east by Fujian Province ...
, and has since moved his residence to
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. His parents were pastry-makers, and he was encouraged by his father to pursue a career in boxing. When Xu dropped out of
junior high school during his third year, he joined China's only professional boxing club at the time, named Zhongwei, in
Kunming,
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...
where he began training as a boxer.
Professional boxing record
See also
*
List of featherweight boxing champions Championship recognition
Public Acclamation: 1884 to 1921
Champions were recognized by wide public acclamation. A heavyweight champion was a boxer who had a notable win over another notable boxer and then went without defeat. Retirements from the ...
*
List of WBA world champions
References
External links
*
Xu Can - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankingsa
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Can
1994 births
Living people
Chinese male boxers
Sportspeople from Suzhou
Featherweight boxers
Super-featherweight boxers
Light-welterweight boxers
World featherweight boxing champions
World Boxing Association champions