Matt Skelton

Matt Skelton
Born	Matthew Skelton 23 January 1967 Bedford, England
Other names	The Bedford Banger[1] The Bedford Bear
Nationality	British
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	249 lb (113 kg; 17.8 st)
Division	Heavyweight
Style	Boxing, kickboxing
Stance	Orthodox
Team	Team Skelton
Years active	1988–present
Professional boxing record
Total	37
Wins	28
By knockout	23
Losses	9
By knockout	5
Kickboxing record
Total	71
Wins	63
By knockout	57
Losses	8
By knockout	3
Mixed martial arts record
Total	1
Wins	0
Losses	1
By submission	1
Other information
Boxing record from BoxRec
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: 10:41, 1 August 2012 (UTC)

Matt Skelton (born 23 January 1967) is a British professional boxer and former kickboxer. In kickboxing he is a former IKF Pro Muay Thai super heavyweight world champion; in boxing he is a former English, British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight champion, as well as a former WBU heavyweight titleholder.

Biography

Skelton did not become a professional boxer until the age of 35. Prior to this he had been a professional kickboxer.

Kickboxing

Skelton has a kickboxing/muay thai record of 63-8/57. He won the International Kickboxing Federation IKF World Title when he stopped Jeff Ford (USA) at 1:51 of the second round in Northampton, England on 26 November 2000.

In his first defense of the IKF World Title on 18 November 2001, in Northampton, England, he defeated Peter Varga (Hungary) by TKO at 53 seconds of round 3.

Skelton, in a K-1 primary tournament K-1 WORLD GP 2001 in Melbourne in Australia, 16 June 2001, knocked out Paris Vasilikos (Greece) at 2:05 of the first round in the quarter final match. And he also beat Michael McDonald (Canada) by third round decision (3-0) in the semi-final match. He was beaten, however, by Ernesto Hoost of the Netherlands by a third round decision (2-0) in the tournament final.

Skelton's record in K-1 is ten wins and seven losses.

During his time as kickboxer and muay thai fighter, Skelton trained with the well known Eagles Gym under the highly regarded and respected Nigel Howlett.

Professional wrestling

Skelton has competed in one shoot-style pro-wrestling bout - a loss to Kazuo Yamazaki for Akira Maeda's Universal Wrestling Federation on 10 January 1989 at Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan.^[2]

Mixed martial arts

Matt Skelton has had one Mixed martial arts fight. On 3 November 2001, at a Pride FC event named PRIDE 17, he lost via choke to wrestler Tom Erikson at 1:11 of the first round.

Boxing

As a professional boxer, he was initially dismissed by purists as an unrefined slugger lacking the required skill to achieve at the very top, but his powerful style has proved extremely successful under the tutelage of renowned trainer Frank Maloney.

He turned pro aged 35 in September 2002 with a two round KO of Gifford Shillingford. From this point he was moved along quickly, in 2003 scoring stoppages of respected veterans Jacklord Jacobs, Antoine Palatis, and ex-British champ Michael Holden, among others.

In 2004, he took his first serious step up, at 11-0 taking on ex-British and Commonwealth champion Julius Francis, who he outpointed over 10 rounds. He won the British and Commonwealth titles in his next fight, stopping Michael Sprott in 12 rounds, and defending the titles against the durable Keith Long, who he stopped in 11.

In 2005, Skelton won the lowly regarded WBU belt with a 6th round knockout of Fabio Moli. Skelton soon vacated the belt, and began to enjoy a higher profile when his promoter Frank Warren took all his fighters to ITV for exposure on terrestrial free-to-air television.

Skelton was due to defend his British title against his main rival Danny Williams in July 2005, but Williams pulled out at the last minute citing a case of the flu, a decision that prompted scorn from Williams' promoter Frank Warren. Skelton stopped late sub Mark Krence in 7 rounds, and scored a 1st round knockout of John McDermott to finish the year, whereupon he vacated his British title, having defended it three times.

In February 2006, Skelton finally fought Williams, and lost on split decision handing him his first pro defeat.

In July 2006, he regained his Commonwealth title by easily outboxing Williams.

Skelton was due to defend his title against Audley Harrison in December 2006, but the fight didn't take place.

Instead, the fight against Michael Sprott for the second time was rescheduled for 14 July 2007, in which Skelton defended his title in a 12 round battle.

Matt Skelton faced WBA Heavyweight Champion Ruslan Chagaev on 19 January 2008 in Düsseldorf. Skelton fought bravely, but the superior boxing skills of his opponent were too much, and he succumbed to a unanimous points decision after 12 rounds.

Skelton fought Paolo Vidoz for the vacant European Heavyweight Title on 19 December 2008. Vidoz, exhausted, stopped fighting in round nine, but his corner refused to throw the towel. Skelton, recognizing this fact, refused to knock out the tormented Vidoz and even asked for the referee to quit the match.

Skelton chose to defend the Commonwealth title rather than the European title against undefeated brawler Martin Rogan, who had been completely unknown before upsetting Audley Harrison in his previous fight. On 28 February 2009, Rogan scored another upset by defeating Skelton by TKO11.

On 19 September 2009, Skelton challenged for the EBU-EU title (not the full European title) against undefeated Italian southpaw Francesco Pianeta. Skelton lost the fight after failing to come out for the 9th due to a hand injury suffered earlier in the fight. In January 2010, he lost to Bulgarian top prospect Kubrat Pulev.

In July 2010, Skelton ended his run of defeats when he knocked out journeyman Lee Swaby in round 5. Later in the year he competed in the Prizefighter series where he outpointed novice Ali Adams and Mike Tyson conqueror Kevin McBride before a split decision loss to Michael Sprott, Sprott avenging his losses to Skelton in their two previous encounters.

In December 2010, Skelton was jailed for five months for perverting the course of justice after giving a false name on three occasions when caught speeding in his car.^[3]

Skelton did not fight at all during 2011. After being released from prison, he did have two fights scheduled, first a rematch with Martin Rogan in Belfast, which never came off. Neither did a fight against unbeaten German Edmund Gerber.

In March 2012, Skelton pulled off a minor upset with a win over Tom Dallas, effectively ending Dallas's status as a prospect. Dallas struggled badly with Skelton's mauling style and at the end of round 4, Dallas was almost laid horizontal on the ropes as Skelton dropped blows on his head. A similar situation occurred in the following round, which led the referee to stop the fight.

Another win followed in May against journeyman Ladislav Kovarik, who came in at very short notice. The fight was stopped in the third round.

Skelton fought again in October 2012 on the undercard of the David Price versus Audley Harrison fight, stopping Jakov Gospic in the second round, after Gospic had been cut by a clash of heads.

On 30 November 2012 Skelton challenged David Price for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles and lost via second round KO.

Professional boxing record

Professional kickboxing record

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
1 match	0 wins	1 loss
By submission	0	1

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	0-1	Tom Erikson	Submission (Strangle Choke)	PRIDE 17	3 November 2001	1	1:51	Tokyo, Japan

Career

• Kickboxing
  • IAMTF World championship Super Heavyweight winner
  • IKF-PRO World Super Heavyweight Champion
  • WKO Muay Thai World Super Heavyweight Champion
  • IKO World Heavyweight Champion
  • 2000 K-1 UK Battle of Britain winner
  • 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix in Melbourne runner up
• Boxing
  • English Heavyweight champion
  • British Heavyweight champion
  • Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavyweight champion
  • EBU European Heavyweight champion
  • WBU World Heavyweight champion
  • Prizefighter Finalist

References

1. "It's now or never for the Bedford Banger". Bedford Today. Johnston Press. 2008-01-10. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
2. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 23 January 1989
3. "Matt Skelton jailed for attempting to pervert course of justice". The Daily Telegraph. 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
4. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=141021&cat=boxer

External links

• Professional boxing record for Matt Skelton from BoxRec
• Profile at K-1
• Professional MMA record for Matt Skelton from Sherdog
• International Kickboxing Federation Official Site