Spencer Oliver | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 March 1975 London United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | British / English | ||||||||||||||
| Other names | The Omen | ||||||||||||||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Boxing record | |||||||||||||||
| Total fights | 15 | ||||||||||||||
| Wins | 14 | ||||||||||||||
| Wins by KO | 9 | ||||||||||||||
| Losses | 1 | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Spencer Oliver (born 27 March 1975) is an English former professional boxer. He was nicknamed "The Omen".
Oliver won a silver medal for England in the bantamweight division at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. [1]
From 1995 to 1998, Oliver competed as a professional. When he defeated Bulgaria's Martin Krastev in May 1997 he became the European (EBU) super bantamweight champion. He held onto the title for a year, defending it on three occasions with wins over Serge Poilblan, Vincenzo Belcastro and Fabrice Benichou. [2]
In May 1998 he sought to defend his title again with a bout against Sergey Devakov at Royal Albert Hall in London, which ended with Oliver suffering life-threatening injuries. Two minutes into the 10th round, Oliver was felled by a right hook and was counted out, the first loss of his career. [3] It then became apparent that Spencer was seriously injured, a blood clot had formed in his brain, caused by a blood vessel that had been torn from a blow he received earlier in the fight. [4] Spencer's cutman, Eddie Carter, is credited for saving his life, by instructing the paramedics to sedate the boxer in order to minimise the damage. [5] For 15 minutes he was treated in the ring by paramedics and supplied with oxygen, before being taken unconscious to Charing Cross Hospital. He was later transferred to a specialist neurology hospital and underwent a successful operation to remove the blood clot. [6]
Oliver now works as a pundit for Sky Sports and Talksport, and runs a boxing school in Edgware, London. He also hosts a boxing podcast with Jake Wood called Pound for Pound. [7]
Michael Watson is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1991. He held the Commonwealth middleweight title from 1989 to 1991, and challenged three times for a world title between 1990 and 1991. Watson's career was cut short as a result of a near-fatal injury sustained during a loss to Chris Eubank for the WBO super-middleweight title in 1991.
Richard Sandoval is an American retired professional boxer and former Lineal and WBA Bantamweight Champion. Sandoval was a silver medalist at the 1979 Pan American Games in Puerto Rico and was a U.S. Olympian during his amateur career. He's also the younger brother of title contender Alberto Sandoval.
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom.
Vakhtang "Vic" Darchinyan is an Armenian former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF flyweight title from 2004 to 2007; and the WBA, WBC, IBF, and lineal super-flyweight titles between 2008 and 2010. Additionally, he held a record four IBO titles at flyweight, super-flyweight, and twice at bantamweight between 2005 and 2011. A southpaw with a highly unique fighting style and formidable punching power, Darchinyan became the first Armenian boxer to win a world title in 2004.
Paul Andrew Ingle is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2000. He held featherweight world championships, including the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from 1999 to 2000 and the lesser International Boxing Organization (IBO) title in 2000. At regional level he held the European, British, and Commonwealth titles between 1997 and 1999. As an amateur, Ingle represented Great Britain at the 1992 Summer Olympics, reaching the second round of the flyweight bracket.
Walter McGowan, MBE, was a Scottish boxer born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. He was known for having been the world flyweight champion.
Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a bantamweight world title, as well as being the first three-time champion in that weight class. Donaire has also held world championships in three consecutive decades: the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, being the sixth boxer to do so after Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Khalid "Kal" Yafai is a British former professional boxer who held the WBA super-flyweight title from 2016 to 2020. As an amateur, he represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal at the 2010 European Championships as a flyweight. As of January 2021, he is ranked as the world's fourth best active super-flyweight by The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and sixth by BoxRec.
Darren Barker is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2013. He held multiple titles at middleweight, including the IBF title in 2013; the Commonwealth title from 2007 to 2009; the British title in 2009; and the European title from 2010 to 2011. As an amateur, Barker represented England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and won a gold medal in the light-welterweight division.
Lee Haskins is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2003 and February 2020. He held the IBF bantamweight title from 2015 to 2017, and the IBF interim title in 2015. At regional level, he held the Commonwealth flyweight title in 2006; the British super-flyweight title from 2008 to 2009; the Commonwealth super-flyweight title in 2009; the British bantamweight title in 2013; and the European bantamweight title twice between 2012 and 2015.
Jason Booth is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2016. He held the IBO super-flyweight title from 2003 to 2004, and challenged once for the IBF super bantamweight title in 2010. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth flyweight titles between 1999 and 2001; the Commonwealth bantamweight title from 2007 to 2008; the British super-bantamweight title from 2009 to 2011; the Commonwealth super-bantamweight title twice in 2010 and 2011. He is the older brother of the former British and Commonwealth bantamweight champion, Nicky Booth.
Naseem Hamed, nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002. He held multiple featherweight world championships between 1995 and 2000, and reigned as lineal champion from 1998 to 2001. He also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) featherweight title from 2002 to 2003, and the European bantamweight title from 1994 to 1995. In 2015, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The Ring magazine retroactively awarded Hamed their featherweight title in 2019 to acknowledge his dominance of the division and the multiple champions he defeated; he is the only former world champion in any division thus far to receive this honour.
Jamie McDonnell is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2019. He held the IBF bantamweight title in 2013 and the WBA (Regular) title from 2014 to 2018. He held multiple regional bantamweight championships, including the British title twice between 2010 and 2011; the Commonwealth title from 2010 to 2011; and the European title from 2010 to 2012. He is the twin brother of fellow boxer Gavin McDonnell.
Carl Frampton is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2021. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA (Regular) super bantamweight title in 2016, and the IBF super bantamweight title from 2014 to 2016, and the WBA (Super) featherweight title from 2016 to 2017.
Scott Quigg is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2020. He held the WBA (Regular) super-bantamweight title from 2013 to 2016, and the British super-bantamweight title from 2011 to 2012.
Naoya Inoue is a Japanese professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, and is one of only three male boxers in history to become the undisputed champion in two weight classes in the "four-belt era". Nicknamed "Monster", Inoue is known for his exceptional punching power, possessing a knockout-to-win percentage of 88.88%, and 90.90% in world title matches.
Adrian "Ady" Lewis 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 1997, and the British and Commonwealth bantamweight titles in 2000.
Richie Wenton is a British former boxer who was British super bantamweight champion between 1994 and 1996, and fought for European and World titles.
Mark Winters is a former boxer from Northern Ireland. He was British light welterweight champion between 1997 and 1998.
Ryan Walsh is a British professional boxer. He has held the British featherweight title since 2015, having previously held the English super-bantamweight title in 2011, and has challenged once for the European featherweight title in 2016.
