Jeff Thomas (boxer)

Last updated

Jeff Thomas
Jeff Thomas (boxer).jpg
Statistics
Real nameJeff Charles Thomas
Weight(s) Super Featherweight to Light Middleweight
Nationality Flag of the United Kingdom.svg British
Born (1981-10-30) 30 October 1981 (age 41)
Dordrecht, Netherlands
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights58
Wins37
Wins by KO8
Losses18
Draws3
No contests0

Jeff Thomas (born 30 October 1981) is a British professional boxer.

Contents

Thomas fought at light welterweight and was a challenger for the Irish light welterweight title and the British Masters super featherweight and light welterweight titles. [1]

Background

Thomas was born in Dordrecht but was raised in Feltham, London where he attended St Laurence's RC Primary, Feltham and St Edmunds RC Primary, Whitton. He moved from London aged 12 to St Annes-on-Sea near Blackpool in Lancashire, England where he attended Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary, St Anne's and St Bede's RC High School, Lytham. After leaving school Thomas worked as a travel agent before moving into professional boxing and subsidising his wage working as a door supervisor in Blackpool. Thomas now works as a personal trainer and boxing coach at Fightworks ABC in Blackpool.

Amateur career

At amateur level, Thomas won a North West England novice title and reached the quarterfinals of the senior Amateur Boxing Association of England championship's in 2001 where he was beaten by eventual finalist Steven Mathews. He also lost a close majority decision to double ABA champion and future WBU World Champion Steve Foster jnr and scored a good first round stoppage win over James Lee. Thomas finished his amateur career with aN 8-8 junior and 19-4 senior record with 7 stoppages. [1] [2]

Professional career

Debut

Thomas turned professional in December 2001 in Blackpool. On his debut he defeated Birkenhead's Peter Allen on points over six rounds (59/55). Allen would go on to beat Central Area Champion Eddie Nevins and draw with Commonwealth Super Bantamweight Champion Isaac Ward. [1]

British Masters title fights

Thomas was undefeated in his first seven fights including decision wins over Midland Area Champion Peter Buckley and Central Area Champion Daniel Thorpe plus a draw with the then highly rated Carl Allen (who had Ko'd British Champion Dazzo Williams and drawn with future British Champion Lee Meager in recent fights). Then, in September 2003, Thomas fought against Scot Lee McAllister for the British Masters light welterweight title in the Scot's hometown, Aberdeen. McAllister, the Scottish Champion and future WBU Double World Champion won the title by close decision on points over ten rounds by a margin 95-97. Thomas was devastated by the verdict having floored the Scot twice and largely dominated most of the contest. [1]

Three months later in Thomas next fight he faced Yorkshire's Martin Hardcastle again on his opponent's home turf in Bradford. This time Thomas had shed 8 lb, as the fight was for the British Masters super featherweight title, but again Thomas having floored his opponent lost on points over ten rounds (96/95). Thomas felt with some justification he had been the victor in both contests.

Hardcastle and McAllister then faced each other in their next bout. McAllister came out the eventual victor, after which Hardcastle retired from boxing. McAllister went from strength to strength, winning WBU World Titles at Lightweight and Light Welterweight. [1]

Missed opportunity

Over the following three years Thomas' interest in the sport waned. Thomas, trying to score an upset, took bouts on short notice against Ricky Burns and Steve Murray, troubling both before losing each fight conclusively. However, he also gained a points victory, over former British Title Challenger, British Masters and Midlands Area Champion Anthony Hanna, and then went on to beat Wales' Anthony Christopher. [1]

This led Thomas to get a chance to fight for the biggest pay day of his career, against Olympic silver medalist Amir Khan. Thomas was approached to fight Khan in December 2005 on the undercard of the Williams v. Harrison but he had contracted to fight Baz Carey, whom Khan had beaten three months previous to that in only his second professional fight. [2]

An alternate date in the beginning of 2006 was suggested for the pair to fight but it was imperative that Thomas defeat Baz Carey during their scheduled contest in Blackpool. Unfortunately for Thomas he lost on points to Carey and lost his chance to fight Khan. Again some felt that Thomas had been unfortunate, though not Thomas himself. [1] [2]

Irish light welterweight title

Following a win over Nuneaton Veteran Kristean Laight, Thomas got the opportunity to fight for the vacant Irish light welterweight title in June 2006. The Irish title had been vacated by unbeaten Dubliner Robbie Murray to allow Oisin Fagan and Peter McDonagh to fight for the title. However, McDonagh pulled out of the fight which allowed Thomas the chance to step in and fight for the vacant title at the National Stadium, Dublin.

Fagan won the Irish title in front of his friends and family after he stopped Thomas in the seventh round. Fagan would go on to lose a split decision to unbeaten Former IBF World Lightweight Champion Paul Spadafora and had already gone the distance with Julio Cesar Chavez Junior before being stopped by British prospect Amir Khan in 2008.

Thomas decided to return to the ring in March 2011 and featured on Prizefighter light middleweights 2. He scored draws against Rick Boultor and Kris Agei-Dua, and wins over Mousad Wali and Andrew Patterson. A loss in between the Wali and Patterson fights to Nathan Weise put paid to any real progress in his comeback but Thomas was very pleased to have returned after so long away.

The draw with Agei-Dua was the first in prizefighter history and came on the back of a famous Twitter campaign leading to his inclusion. [1] [3] [4] [5]

Fairly uniquely, as a pro Thomas campaigned as a Super Featherweight, Lightweight, Light-Welterweight, Welterweight, Light-Middleweight, Middleweight and had his final fight at Super Middleweight.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boxing in the 1980s</span>

Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport. Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continuous corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continuous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter, the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad, and major rule changes. In 1986, Mike Tyson emerged as a fresh new face in the heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime. In addition, the IBF and WBO began operating.

Lester Ellis is a British-born Australian former professional boxer. He is a five-time world champion, having also held the Australian and Commonwealth (twice) titles.

Ryan Barrett was an English boxer. He won the English super featherweight title in 2008, and the WBU welterweight title in 2013 before retiring later in 2014. Barrett is best known for his loss to 2004 Athens Olympics silver medalist Amir Khan via a TKO in 2006; after which, he went on to fight for the British featherweight title in 2007.

Oisín Fagan, nicknamed "Gael Force", is an Irish former professional boxer based in Oklahoma City, U.S., who fought in the light welterweight and lightweight divisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willie Limond</span> Scottish boxer

Willie Limond is a Scottish professional boxer. He held the EBU European Union super featherweight title in 2004, the Commonwealth lightweight title from 2006 to 2007, the Commonwealth super lightweight title from 2013 to 2014, and the British super lightweight title in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Smith (boxer)</span> English boxer

Paul James Smith Jr. is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2017, and has since worked as a commentator. He held the English middleweight title in 2008, the British super-middleweight title twice between 2009 and 2014, and challenged three times for a super-middleweight world title. As an amateur, he won a silver medal in the light middleweight division at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Merdud Takalobighashi, more commonly known as Merdud Takaloo or Takaloo, is an Iranian born British based boxer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Moore (boxer)</span>

Jamie Moore is a British boxing trainer and former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2010. He held the British and Commonwealth super welterweight titles twice between 2003 and 2007, and the European super welterweight title in 2009

Spencer Fearon is a boxing promoter and media personality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Gomez</span> British boxer

Michael Gomez is a former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2009. He was born to an Irish Traveller family in Longford, Ireland, spending his early years in Dublin before moving to London and later Manchester, England, with his family at the age of nine. In boxing he was affectionately known as "The Predator", "The Irish Mexican" and "The Mancunian Mexican".

Lee “Aberdeen Assassin” McAllister is a Scottish professional boxer nicknamed the "Aberdeen Assassin". McAllister held the Commonwealth lightweight and light-welterweight titles, the IBO International light-welterweight title, and challenged once each for the European and British titles. He captured the junior-middleweight WBU World Championship on 5 October 2019 against Richmond Djarbeng by 2nd round TKO. Lee is also a very successful promoter; Assassins Promotions boxing, which holds events in his hometown of Aberdeen, where he also runs and operates a very prestigious boxing gym called Assassin's Health & Fitness. On 22 July 2018 he fought his most high profile fight whenever he moved up 5 weight classes and challenged British WBU #1 contender Danny Williams, who beat Mike Tyson, in eerily similar fashion; McAllister dominated Williams and KO'd him in round 10 to become the WBU Heavyweight champion of the world.

Boxing in the 2010s includes notable events about boxing which occurred between 2010 and 2019. The decade saw high intensity action in the welterweight division. The match between veterans Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao broke PPV records. The broadcast of the fight in the Philippines was watched by nearly half the country's households. Mayweather retired at a record 50-0-0 while Pacquiao became the first eight division champion. The middleweight division saw immense action in the later years of the decade. After a draw in 2017, Canelo Alvarez ended Gennady Golovkin's long reign in 2018. The heavyweight division was dominated by Klitschko brothers before Wladimir's loss to Tyson Fury in 2015. Other talents that emerged were Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksander Usyk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah</span> Boxing competition

Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah, billed as "'Attack & Conquer", was a professional boxing match contested on July 23, 2011 for the WBA (Super) and IBF light welterweight championship.

Boxing in Liverpool, United Kingdom includes approximately 22 amateur boxing clubs which have produced notable boxers such as John Conteh, Andy Holligan, Tony Bellew, David Price, and Callum Smith.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Boxrec. "Jeff Thomas". Boxrec Fighter Page. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "Thomas books a date with Amir Khan". Blackpool Gazette . Retrieved 13 January 2008.
  3. "Tapia helping Martinez get ready for Dunne". Eastside Boxing. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
  4. Tomás Rohan (24 May 2006). "Fagan could meet Thomas in June". RTÉ . Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
  5. Tomás Rohan. "Familiar Names on National Stadium Undercard". Irish boxing.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 13 January 2008.