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Matt Skelton
Born	Matthew Skelton (1967-01-23) January 23, 1967 (age 57) Bedford, England, UK
Nationality	British
Other names	The Bedford Bear
Statistics
Weight(s)	Heavyweight
Stance	Orthodox fit brawler
Boxing record
Total fights	23
Wins	21
Wins by KO	18
Losses	2
Draws	0
No contests	0

Matt "The Bedford Bear" Skelton (born 23 January 1967 in Bedford) is an English boxer who changed sports from kickboxing. He is a former English, British and Commonwealth Heavyweight champion, and has also held the lightly regarded WBU "World" title.

Biography

Kickboxing

Skelton did not become a professional boxer until fairly late in life, his first fight being at the age of 35. Prior to this he had been a professional kickboxer.

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

In his first defense of his IKF World Title was on November 18th, 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, June 16, 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 (Netherlands) by a third round decision (2-0) in the tournament final.

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

MMA

Matt Skleton has had one MMA fight. On the 3rd of 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 kayo 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, where upon 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 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 July 14, 2007, in which Skelton defended his title in an uninispring, 12 round battle.

Matt Skelton faced WBA Heavyweight Champion Ruslan Chagaev on January 19 2008 in Dusseldorf. 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.

Record

• Professional kickboxing: 63 Fights 57 Wins 8 Loses

• Professional MMA: 1 Fight 1 Lose

• Professional boxing: 21 Fights 20 Wins 18 KOs 2 Lose

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
  • K-1 WORLD GP 2001 Primary U.K. tournament winner
• Boxing
  • British Heavyweight champion
  • Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavyweight champion

References

See also

• List of male kickboxers
• List of male boxers
• K-1

External links

• Boxing record for Matt Skelton from BoxRec (registration required)
• Matt Skelton's K-1 Record
• Matt Skelton's MMA Record
• International Kickboxing Federation Official Site

• English boxers
• Heavyweights
• British kickboxers
• People from Bedford
• 1967 births
• Living people