Jonathan Thaxton (born 10 September 1974) 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 1992 to 2009. 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, ...

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

title from 2006 and 2007, and the EBU European title from 2008 to 2009.

Professional career

He had his first professional fight in December 1992, beating Scott Smith on points over six rounds in Stoke on Trent. In his early career he fought as a light-welterweight. His first fight for a major title was in September 1996, when he won the WBO Intercontinental Light-Welterweight title, beating Bernard Paul of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

on points. In November 1997, he won 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 ...

Intercontinental Light-Welterweight title, beating Rimvidas Bilius of Lithuania on points. In September 1998, he lost both titles, when he lost to the American,

Emanuel Augustus Emanuel Augustus (born Emanuel Ya'kov Burton, January 2, 1975), is an American former professional boxer from Brownsville, Texas who competed from 1994 to 2011. He was known as The Drunken Master, taken from the Jackie Chan films of the same n ...

, being knocked out in the seventh. In November 1999, he fought

Jason Rowland Jason Rowland (born 6 August 1970) is a British former boxer who was British light welterweight champion between 1998 and 2000, and WBU light welterweight World champion in 2000. Career Born in London and based in West Ham, Rowland made his pr ...

for the British light-welterweight title, losing when the fight was stopped in the fifth. In October 2000, he had another shot at the now vacant British light-welterweight title when he fought

Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at l ...

. Despite Hatton being cut badly in the first round, he went on to defeat Thaxton on points. In February 2002, he fought Eamonn Magee for the Commonwealth light-welterweight title, losing when the fight was stopped in the sixth. Between 2002 and 2004, Thaxton spent two years out of the ring with a shoulder injury after a road accident.

WBF title

In April 2005, he knocked out

Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially th ...

Christophe De Busillet in the fourth, to take the vacant World Boxing Foundation (WBFo) world lightweight title. In September 2005, he defended the title against

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n Vasile Dragomir, scoring a knockout in the fourth round.

British title

In December 2006, he fought

Lee Meager Lee Meager (born 18 January 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2008. He held the British lightweight title in 2006 and challenged for the same title in 2008. Professional career He had his first professiona ...

, the holder of the British lightweight title. Thaxton scored a unanimous points victory to take the title. In March 2007, he defended the British lightweight title against Scott Lawton, winning by a technical knockout in the seventh. In October 2007, he defended the British lightweight title again, this time against Dave Stewart, winning by a technical knockout in the twelfth round.

European title challenge

In April 2008, he challenged Yuri Romanov, of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, for his European lightweight title. The fight was stopped at the start of the sixth when Thaxton's corner refused to let him come out due to bad cuts. This was Thaxton's first defeat after twelve straight wins. On 4 October 2008, Thaxton captured the vacated European lightweight title in the third round of the contest against Spaniard Juan Carlos Melero Diaz.

Titles

**IBF Inter-Continental light-welterweight champion **WBO Inter-Continental light welterweight champion **WBF World Lightweight champion **British Lightweight champion **European Lightweight champion

Professional boxing record

References

External links

Fight stats

The Official Website of Jon Thaxton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thaxton, Jonathan 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Norwich English male boxers Lightweight boxers