Matthew Hall (boxer)

Last updated

Matthew Hall
Born (1984-07-05) 5 July 1984 (age 39)
Manchester, England
NationalityBritish
Other namesEl Torito ("The Little Bull")
Statistics
Weight(s) Light middleweight
Middleweight
Height5 ft 7+12 in (171 cm)
Reach65 in (165 cm)
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights33
Wins26
Wins by KO16
Losses7

Matthew Hall (born 5 July 1984) is a British professional boxer. He is a former Commonwealth light middleweight champion, having also challenged for the British and European light middleweight titles as well as the British and Commonwealth middleweight titles. [1]

Contents

Early professional career

Hall's professional debut came in September 2002 with a win over boxing journeyman Pedro Thompson, stopping him in the first round at the MEN Arena in Manchester. His very next fight against the same opponent saw Hall travel to Newcastle in order to beat Thompson again but this time on points over 4 rounds meaning that at the end of his debut year Hall has compiled an unbeaten record of 2-0. Over the course of the next four years, Hall fought fourteen more times against a host of other journeymen winning every fight meaning that his record at the end of 2006 stood at sixteen wins with no defeats. Hall's progress at this time was all the more impressive as in 2003 he had been the victim of a stabbing incident which nearly cost him his life. Speaking to the Daily Mirror about the incident Hall said "I had my bowel perforated six times and lost five or six litres of blood...I was in a bad way and it took me about a year to recover. It's not good getting stabbed." Speaking in 2009 Hall preferred to seek positives from the incident saying "It did my career a favour because it held me back a year or two. I could have had meaningful fights when I was younger and not been ready. I could have been and gone." [2]

Defeat and fightback

Hall's perfect record however was about to be shattered in his first fight of 2007. The fight in July was to come a full year after the last time Hall had stepped into the ring when he had beaten Kevin Phelan with a 1st round stoppage. A year later the boot was to be on the other foot when, at the O2 Arena in London, Martin Concepcion stopped Hall in the first round handing him his first defeat in 5 years as a professional boxer. [3] Hall responded to the defeat with a number of wins over worthy opponents. On 3 December 2007 he defeated Tyan Booth at the Piccadilly Hotel in Manchester and on 22 March 2008 in his first fight of the new year beat the unbeaten Kerry Hope at the International Arena in Cardiff. [4] On 6 September 2008 he beat the former Celtic title challenger Taz Jones [5] and on 10 October 2008 returned to Manchester to beat former Irish champion Ciaran Healy at the MEN Arena. [6] On 12 December 2008 in his last fight of the year, Hall capped off a series of four wins in a row following the Concepcion defeat to stop former Central Area champion Jason Rushton in Widnes. [7]

Commonwealth Champion

Hall's winning run was to pay dividends as on 14 March 2009 Hall defeated defending champion Bradley Pryce to lift the Commonwealth championship knocking Pryce out in the 2nd round. [8] Disappointment following however when on 18 July 2009 Hall lost his title in his first defence at the MEN Arena in Manchester. He was defeated by Anthony Small in a fight which also saw the vacant British title on the line, the referee stopping the fight in the 8th round handing both belts to Small. [9] Following the contest Hall split from his longtime trainer Brian Hughes and moved to try and rebuild with Bolton-based trainer Karl Ince. Speaking of the change in direction Hall said that he had been "embarrassed" by his performance and added that "sometimes you need a change". [10] In his first contest following the defeat on 15 May 2010, Hall scored a 5th round stoppage win over Tony Randell the British Masters champion in a non-title bout. [11]

European title attempt

On 18 September 2010 as part of Frank Warrens 'Magnificent Seven' card, Hall lost for the third time in his career. The fight, for the vacant European title, had come at short notice for Hall following an injury to Ryan Rhodes who had been due to defend the belt on the card. The injury had meant that the belt became vacant and Hall stepped in to fight the Czech Republics Lucas Konecny. In the end Konecny proved too much of a step up for Hall and following two knockdowns in the 6th round the referee stopped the fight. A disappointed Hall announced after the fight that it would be his last that he would retire.

Return from retirement and British title elimination fight

In October 2011, Hall returned to the professional fight game. He suffered a shock defeat to Bulgarian Alex Ribchev on points shown live on new boxing channel BoxNation. [12] Hall then fought and defeated Kris Carslaw in a British light middleweight title elimination fight. [13]

Hall suffered another defeat at the hands of Irish fighter Gary O'Sullivan, at Upton Park, London, on 14 July. [14]

Professional boxing record

33 fights26 wins7 losses
By knockout163
By decision104
Draws0
No contests0
No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
33Win26–7 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Dan BlackwellPTS62015-04-18 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sports Centre, Oldham, England
32Loss25–7 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Billy Joe Saunders UD122013-03-21 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, EnglandFor Commonwealth (British Empire) Middleweight title.
For BBBofC British Middleweight title.
31Win25–6 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lee NoblePTS62012-11-30 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
30Loss24–6 Flag of Ireland.svg Gary O'Sullivan UD122012-07-14 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Upton Park, West Ham, London, EnglandFor vacant WBO International Middleweight title.
29Loss24–5 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sam Webb SD122012-04-28 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Royal Albert Hall, South Kensington, London, England
28Win24–4 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Kris CarslawUD102011-11-25 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ravenscraig Sports Centre, Motherwell, Scotland
27Loss23–4 Flag of Bulgaria.svg Alexey RibchevPTS62011-10-28 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester, England
26Loss23–3 Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Lukas Konecny TKO6 (12), 1:53 2010-09-18 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg LG Arena, Birmingham, EnglandFor vacant EBU European Super welterweight title.
25Win23–2 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Tony RandellTKO3 (6), 1:582010-05-15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Upton Park, West Ham, London, England
24Loss22–2 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Anthony Small TKO8 (12), 2:212009-07-18 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, EnglandLost Commonwealth (British Empire) Super welterweight title.
For vacant BBBofC British Super welterweight title.
23Win22–1 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Bradley Pryce TKO2 (12), 2:592009-03-14 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, EnglandWon Commonwealth (British Empire) Super welterweight title.
22Win21–1 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jason RushtonTKO6 (8), 1:192008-12-12 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, England
21Win20–1 Flag of Ireland.svg Ciaran HealyTKO3 (8), 1:562008-10-10 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Everton Park Sports Centre, Liverpool, England
20Win19–1 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Taz JonesTKO5 (8), 2:562008-09-06 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
19Win18–1 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Kerry HopeTKO8 (8), 0:532008-03-22 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg International Arena, Cardiff, Wales
18Win17–1 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Tyan Booth PTS82007-12-03 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester, England
17Loss16–1 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin ConcepcionTKO1 (8), 2:002007-07-14 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg The O2 Arena, Greenwich, London, England
16Win16–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Kevin PhelanTKO1 (6), 2:062006-07-08 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales
15Win15–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Rob BurtonKO3 (?), 1:252006-03-11 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Newport Centre, Newport, Wales
14Win14–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jon FosterTKO3 (6), 1:292006-01-28 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
13Win13–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Matt ScrivenTKO2 (6), 2:262005-06-04 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
12Win12–0 Flag of France.svg Sylvestre MarianiniTKO1 (6), 2:572005-02-11 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
11Win11–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Leigh WicksPTS42005-01-21 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Bridgend Leisure Centre, Bridgend, Wales
10Win10–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jason CollinsPTS62004-12-03 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland
9Win9–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ojay AbrahamsKO1 (6), 2:412004-11-12 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg North Bridge Leisure Centre, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England
8Win8–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Howard ClarkeTKO5 (6), 1:582004-10-01 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
7Win7–0 Flag of Spain.svg Isidro GonzalezTKO3 (4), 1:192004-06-12 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
6Win6–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Craig LynchPTS62004-05-06 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Metrodome, Barnsley, England
5Win5–0 Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg Patrick CitoPTS42003-05-08 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, England
4Win4–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Brian ColemanTKO1 (4), 1:552003-04-05 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
3Win3–0 Flag of Botswana.svg Clive JohnsonPTS42003-01-18 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Guild Hall, Preston, Lancashire, England
2Win2–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Pedro ThompsonPTS42002-12-14 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Telewest Arena, Newcastle, England
1Win1–0 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Pedro ThompsonTKO1 (4), 2:152002-09-28 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, EnglandProfessional debut

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References

  1. Boxing record for Matthew Hall from BoxRec (registration required). Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  2. mirror Administrator (11 July 2009). "Matthew Hall: Stabbing helped me realise boxing dream". mirror.
  3. Martin Concepcion vs Matthew Hall. YouTube. 17 July 2007. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021.
  4. "Middleton". men.
  5. walesonline Administrator (12 September 2008). "Boxing: Illness cost me Hall fight says Jones". walesonline.
  6. "Latest Boxing News – Hall Destroys Healy". Boxing News 24. 11 October 2008.
  7. "KO for brave Rushton after late call". thestar.co.uk.
  8. "BBC Sport - Hall stops champion Pryce in two". bbc.co.uk. 14 March 2009.
  9. "Cleverly stops McIntosh for title". BBC Sport. 18 July 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  10. men Administrator (29 July 2009). "Split decision for Hall". men.
  11. men Administrator (27 May 2010). "Hall returns with a bang". men.
  12. Lynch, Matt. "Matthew Hall Loses on Return to the Ring". Boxingtoday.co.uk. Retrieved 23 January 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  13. "Matthew Hall - Boxer". Boxrec.com. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  14. "Gary 'Spike' O'Sullivan beats Matthew Hall at Upton Park". RTÉ.ie . 16 July 2012.