Mark Hobson (born 5 July 1976) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2007. He challenged once for the WBO cruiserweight title in 2006. At regional level, he held the Commonwealth cruiserweight title from 2003 to 2006 and the British cruiserweight title twice between 2003 and 2007.

Mark Hobson
Born (1976-05-07) 7 May 1976 (age 48)
NationalityBritish
Other namesHobbo
Statistics
Weight(s)Cruiserweight
Height6 ft 5 in (196 cm)
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights33
Wins27
Wins by KO14
Losses5
Draws1

Early professional career

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Hobson had his first professional contest on 9 June 1997, scoring a points win over Michael Pinnock in Bradford. For the first three and a half years of his career Hobson built up a respectable record of 14–1–1 with the only loss coming against Mark Levy in 1999. On 24 April 2001 Hobson challenged South African fighter Sebastiaan Rothmann at the Olympia in Liverpool for the WBU Cruiserweight title. The fight ended in a first stoppage defeat for Hobson after the fight was ended in the 9th round.[1]

British and Commonwealth champion

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Following the Rothmann defeat, Hobson took on Germany's future WBA world champion Firat Arslan at the Barnsley Metrodome Arena and was again stopped, this time on cuts in the seventh round. Four wins, including one over Lee Swaby, followed however as Hobson positioned himself for a shot at the vacant Commonwealth cruiserweight belt on 25 January 2003 pitching himself against Ugandan Abdul Kadou and winning the contest with a fourth round stoppage. One further win followed before Hobson made the first defence of his title against Robert Norton in a fight which also had the vacant British belt on the line. The fight which took place at the Ponds Forge Arena in Sheffield on 5 September 2003 saw Hobson become a double champion with a 12-round points win.

Further defences of both titles followed with wins over Tony Moran on 13 March 2004, Lee Swaby on 27 May 2004 and former champion and world title challenger Bruce Scott on 17 December 2004. Hobson took a break from the ring in 2005 but went on to make one further defence of both his belts on 1 June 2006 against John Keeton back at the Metrodome in Barnsley.

Further title wins and challenges

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Following the win over Scott and his subsequent break from the ring, Hobson returned to action on 4 March 2006 to challenge Enzo Maccarinelli for the WBU cruiserweight title in a fight that was the chief support to Joe Calzaghe's destruction of Jeff Lacy at the MEN Arena in Manchester. The fight ended in a 12-round defeat for Hobson in what proved to be a tough defence for Maccarinelli.[2] The Keeton defence followed before, on 8 September 2006, Hobson challenged for the WBU title at the third time of asking, defeating Pavol Polakovic at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair, London.

On 14 October 2006 Hobson returned to the MEN Arena in Manchester to once again take on Enzo Maccarinelli, this time for the WBO title in what was Maccarinelli's first defence of newly won world title. The fight ended in disappointment as Hobson was unable to match the performance of his first fight with the Welshman and suffered a first round stoppage.[3]

Hobson's final fight before retiring from the ring was to challenge former victim John Keeton for the British title that Hobson himself had vacated. The fight on 29 September 2007 at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield ended in victory for Hobson once more, allowing him to retire from the sport as a British champion.[4]

Professional boxing record

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33 fights 27 wins 5 losses
By knockout 14 3
By decision 13 2
Draws 1
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
33 Win 27–5–1   John Keeton TKO 4 (12), 1:00 29 Sep 2007   Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England Won British cruiserweight title
32 Loss 26–5–1   Enzo Maccarinelli TKO 1 (12), 1:11 14 Oct 2006   M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England For WBO cruiserweight title
31 Win 26–4–1   Pavol Polakovic UD 12 8 Sep 2006   Grosvenor House, London, England Won WBU cruiserweight title
30 Win 25–4–1   John Keeton TKO 4 (12), 2:50 1 Jun 2006   Barnsley Metrodome, Barnsley, England Retained British and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles
29 Loss 24–4–1   Enzo Maccarinelli UD 12 4 Mar 2006   M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England For WBU cruiserweight title
28 Win 24–3–1   Bruce Scott PTS 12 17 Dec 2004   Huddersfield Sports Centre, Huddersfield, England Retained British and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles
27 Win 23–3–1   Lee Swaby TKO 6 (12), 1:02 27 May 2004   Huddersfield Sports Centre, Huddersfield, England Retained British and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles
26 Win 22–3–1   Tony Moran TKO 3 (12), 2:10 13 Mar 2004   Huddersfield Sports Centre, Huddersfield, England Retained British and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles
25 Win 21–3–1   Rob Norton PTS 12 5 Sep 2003   Ponds Forge Arena, Sheffield, England Retained Commonwealth cruiserweight title;
Won vacant British cruiserweight title
24 Win 20–3–1   Muslim Biarslanov TKO 2 (8), 1:20 10 May 2003   Huddersfield Sports Centre, Huddersfield, England
23 Win 19–3–1   Abdul Kadou TKO 4 (12) 25 Jan 2003   Recreation Centre, Bridgend, Wales Won vacant Commonwealth cruiserweight title
22 Win 18–3–1   Varuzhan Davtyan TKO 3 (6) 5 Oct 2002   Huddersfield Sports Centre, Huddersfield, England
21 Win 17–3–1   Lee Swaby PTS 10 27 Apr 2002   Huddersfield Sports Centre, Huddersfield, England
20 Win 16–3–1   Valeri Semiskur PTS 6 23 Feb 2002   Harvey Hadden Sports Centre, Nottingham, England
19 Win 15–3–1   Luke Simpkin RTD 3 (4), 3:00 10 Dec 2001   Everton Park Sports Centre, Liverpool, England
18 Loss 14–3–1   Firat Arslan TKO 7 (8) 8 Oct 2001   Barnsley Metrodome, Barnsley, England
17 Loss 14–2–1   Sebastiaan Rothmann RTD 9 (12), 3:00 24 Apr 2001   Olympia, Liverpool, England For WBU cruiserweight title
16 Win 14–1–1   Billy Bessey PTS 4 26 Feb 2001   Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre, Nottingham, England
15 Win 13–1–1   Mark Lee Dawson TKO 1 (6) 25 Sep 2000   Barnsley Metrodome, Barnsley, England
14 Win 12–1–1   Paul Bonson PTS 4 13 May 2000   Barnsley Metrodome, Barnsley, England
13 Win 11–1–1   Luke Simpkin PTS 6 27 Mar 2000   Barnsley Metrodome, Barnsley, England
12 Win 10–1–1   Nikolai Ermenkov TKO 3 (6) 11 Mar 2000   Olympia, London, England
11 Win 9–1–1   Brian Gascoigne TKO 3 (6) 6 Dec 1999   Norfolk Gardens Hotel, Bradford, England
10 Win 8–1–1   Paul Bonson PTS 4 11 Sept 1999   Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Sheffield, England
9 Loss 7–1–1   Mark Levy PTS 8 19 Apr 1999   Stakis Hotel, Bradford, England
8 Win 7–0–1   Danny Southeram TKO 5 (6) 26 Nov 1998   Stakis Hotel, Bradford, England
7 Win 6–0–1   Mark Snipe TKO 3 (6) 25 Oct 1998   Tara Leisure Centre, Shaw and Crompton, England
6 Win 5–0–1   Martin Jolley TKO 3 (6) 15 Jun 1998   Stakis Hotel, Bradford, England
5 Win 4–0–1   Paul Bonson PTS 6 21 May 1998   Ball Park Centre, Bradford, England
4 Draw 3–0–1   Colin Brown PTS 6 27 Feb 1998   Volunteer Rooms, Irvine, Scotland
3 Win 3–0   P.R. Mason PTS 6 13 Nov 1997   Stakis Hotel, Bradford, England
2 Win 2–0   P.R. Mason PTS 6 6 Oct 1997   Norfolk Gardens Hotel, Bradford, England
1 Win 1–0   Michael Pinnock PTS 6 9 Jun 1997   Stakis Hotel, Bradford, England
Preceded by Commonwealth Cruiserweight Champion
25 January 2001 – 19 March 2007
vacated
Succeeded by
Preceded by British Cruiserweight Champion
5 September 2003 – 20 October 2006
vacated
Succeeded by
Preceded by British Cruiserweight Champion
29 September 2007 – 3 October 2008
vacated
Succeeded by

References

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  1. ^ text here Mark Hobson professional boxing record Archived 9 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine BoxRec
  2. ^ Maccarinelli keeps WBU title Archived 22 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine BBC Sport, 5 March 2006
  3. ^ Maccarinelli storms to quick win Archived 7 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine BBC Sport, 14 October 2006
  4. ^ Anderson turns tables[dead link] Times Online, 2 June 2006