Paul Andrew Ingle (born 22 June 1972) 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 1994 to 2000. He held multiple

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, this ...

world championships, including the

International Boxing Federation 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 ...

(IBF) title from 1999 to 2000 and the

International Boxing Organization The International Boxing Organization (IBO) is a US based corporation that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and regional championships. It is an independent and well-known organization not recognized by the "big four" gove ...

(IBO) title in 2000. At regional level he held the

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

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, ...

, and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

titles between 1997 and 1999. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, Ingle represented Great Britain at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, reaching the second round of the

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...

bracket.

Amateur career

Ingle was a member of the 1992 British Olympic team and competed in the flyweight division. In the first round he defeated Alexander Baba of Ghana by 9–7, but lost 12–13 in the second round to eventual gold medallist

Choe Chol-su Choe Chol-su (born December 1, 1969) is a North Korean boxer who won the gold medal in the men's Flyweight (51 kg) category at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Olympic results * Defeated Moustafa Esmail (Egypt) 7-4 * Defeated Paul I ...

of North Korea. He won the 1991

Amateur Boxing Association England Boxing, known until 2013 as the Amateur Boxing Association of England, is the Sports governing body, governing body of amateur boxing clubs in England. There are separate organisations for Scotland and Wales with boxing in Northern Irela ...

British flyweight title, boxing out of Scarborough ABC.

Professional career

Ingle made his professional debut on 23 March 1994, scoring a third-round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

over Darren Noble. On 11 January 1997, he stopped

Colin McMillan Colin McMillan (born 12 February 1966) is an English former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 1997. He fought his way to the British featherweight title in 1991. After successfully defending his British title, he added the Commonwe ...

in eight rounds to win his first regional championship, the

title. Later that year, on 11 October, Ingle defeated

Jon Jo Irwin John Irwin (born 31 May 1969, Doncaster), known as Jon Jo Irwin, is a retired English amateur featherweight and professional feather/super featherweight boxer of the 1990s. Boxing career Amateur As an amateur he represented England and won a g ...

by eighth-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, t ...

to win the

featherweight title. Ingle completed the regional trifecta when he won the

featherweight title on 26 September 1998, stopping

Billy Hardy Billy Hardy (born 5 September 1964 in Sunderland) is a former bantamweight and featherweight boxer champion. He held the British championship at bantamweight and featherweight, as well as the European and Commonwealth featherweight titles. Th ...

in eight rounds.

First world title challenge

By the time Ingle challenged for his first world title against WBO featherweight champion

Naseem Hamed Naseem Hamed (born 12 February 1974), nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002.. Retrieved 25 February 2016. He held multiple featherweight world championships, including the WBO ti ...

, he had won 21 consecutive fights without a loss. During the entrances for their fight, Ingle was kept waiting in the ring for six minutes. Angered by this, he and his trainer Steve Pollard went back to the dressing room and only returned after Hamed had finally made his own entrance. In the opening round of the fight, Ingle was knocked down and barely made it out of the round following an onslaught of punches by Hamed. A body shot floored Ingle again in the sixth, but with twenty seconds remaining he emerged unscathed. In rounds nine and ten, Ingle had some success by bloodying Hamed's nose. A third knockdown in the eleventh ended Ingle's challenge, as referee Joe Cortez deemed him unable to continue as he stood up on shaky legs.

IBF featherweight champion

Despite this first career loss, Ingle received another world title opportunity in his next fight, on 13 November 1999. He went on to defeat

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 ...

featherweight champion Manuel Medina by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

, albeit suffering a knockdown in the twelfth and final round. In his first defence of the title, Ingle travelled to the United States for the first time and fought on the undercard of

Lennox Lewis vs. Michael Grant Lennox Lewis vs. Michael Grant, billed as ''Two Big'', was a professional boxing match contested on April 29, 2000 for the WBC, IBF, and IBO heavyweight championships. Background In his previous fight, Lennox Lewis had finally captured the u ...

. Facing him was former two-weight world champion

Junior Jones Junior Jones (born December 20, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2002. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight title from 1993 to 1994 an ...

, who held the IBO featherweight title. In an action-packed fight which was close on the judges' scorecards, Ingle was knocked down in round nine, but rallied back in dramatic fashion to stop Jones in the eleventh.

Retirement and life after boxing

Ingle's boxing career ended on 16 December 2000, losing both the IBF and IBO titles to

Mbulelo Botile Mbulelo Botile (born 23 July 1972) is a South African former professional boxer who competed between 1989 and 2005. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the IBF bantamweight title from 1995 to 1997 and the IBF featherweight ...

. The fight had undergone several postponements due to Ingle sustaining injuries in training and being unable to make the 126 lbs featherweight limit. After suffering a knockdown in round eleven, Ingle went down again in the twelfth and did not rise for several minutes. He was stretchered out of the ring and hospitalised for a blood clot on the brain, spending four weeks in intensive care before recovering. A boxing gym, the Paul Ingle Boxing Academy, has since opened in his honour, in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

."Paul Ingle Boxing Academy"
Retrieved 31 December 2016.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingle, Paul English male boxers Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Great Britain 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Scarborough, North Yorkshire International Boxing Federation champions English Olympic competitors International Boxing Organization champions Flyweight boxers Commonwealth Boxing Council champions European Boxing Union champions British Boxing Board of Control champions World featherweight boxing champions