Noel Wilders (born 4 January 1975) 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 1996 to 2006. He held the IBO

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

title in 2000 and challenged once for the same title in 2004. At regional level, 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, ...

bantamweight title from 1999 to 2000 and the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

European bantamweight title from 2003.

Career

Born in

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, Wilders first had success as an amateur, winning the ABA bantamweight title in 1995.Former champ Wilders back on world title trail
, ''

Yorkshire Evening Post The ''Yorkshire Evening Post'' is a daily evening publication (delivered to newsagents every morning) published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The paper provides a regional slant on the day's news, and traditio ...

'', 17 January 2004. Retrieved 19 October 2015 He made his professional debut in March 1996 with a fourth round stoppage of Neil Parry. In February 1998 he beat Marcus Duncan to win the vacant

BBBofC The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom. History The British Boxing Board of Control was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Cardiff. ...

Central Area bantamweight title. After beating

Ady Lewis Adrian "Ady" Lewis (born 31 May 1975) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2001. He challenged once for the IBO bantamweight title in 2001. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth flyweight titles in 1 ...

in a final eliminator he beat

Francis Ampofo Francis "The Pocket Battleship" Ampofo (born 5 June 1967) is a Ghanaian born British former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2002. He challenged once for the WBO flyweight title in 1994. At regional level, he held the British flyweigh ...

on points in October 1999 to take the vacant British title. He made a successful defence in January 2000 against Steve Williams. In March 2000 he faced Kamel Guerfi for the vacant IBO World bantamweight title, winning on points. He successfully defended the title four months later against Paul Lloyd. Later that year he was prevented from boxing and stripped of his titles after a problem with a routine brain scan.Wilders claims European title
,

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, 28 January 2003. Retrieved 19 October 2015 He regained his licence and after splitting from promoter Frank Warren after a string of cancelled fights, in January 2003 beat Fabien Guillerme in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

to win the vacant European bantamweight title. Two months later he defended the title against Frédéric Patrac, the fight ending in a technical draw after an accidental clash of heads left Wilders badly cut. In June 2003 he made a second defence against David Guerault. Guerault knocked him out in the seventh round, inflicting the first defeat of Wilders' career. In August 2004 Wilders attempted to regain the IBO World title when he challenged the unbeaten

Silence Mabuza Silence Mabuza (born 18 September 1977 in Tsakane, South Africa) is a professional boxer in the bantamweight (118 lb) division, and as of 6 Jan. 2008, is a former two time holder of the International Boxing Organization's world Bantamweight ...

in Temba, South Africa; Mabuza knocked him out in the fifth round. Wilders returned in May 2005 at

super bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanctioning organizations or ...

when he was beaten by

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 betwee ...

, and in October was due to face

Bernard Dunne Bernard Dunne (born 6 February 1980) is an Irish former professional boxer and a former WBA (Regular), and European Super Bantamweight champion. On Saturday 21 March 2009, Dunne defeated Ricardo Cordoba in the 11th round to become the WBA (Reg ...

for the IBC super bantamweight title, but had to withdraw.Dunne to take on Wilders in Dublin bout
,

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

, 14 June 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2015 He decided to retire but reversed his decision and faced Dunne in what was his final fight in January 2006, Dunne stopping him in the sixth round.Dunne, Bernard (2010) ''My Story'', Penguin,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilders, Noel 1975 births Living people English male boxers Bantamweight boxers Sportspeople from Castleford