Mark Hobson (boxer)
# Mark Hobson (boxer)

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.

## Early professional career

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.

## British and Commonwealth champion

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

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. 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.

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.

## Professional boxing record

| 33 fights | 27 wins | 5 losses |
| - | - | - |
| By knockout | 14 | 3 |
| By decision | 13 | 2 |
| Draws | 1 | 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 byBruce Scott vacated | Commonwealth Cruiserweight Champion 25 January 2001 – 19 March 2007 vacated | Succeeded byTroy Ross |
| Preceded byBruce Scott vacated | British Cruiserweight Champion 5 September 2003 – 20 October 2006 vacated | Succeeded byJohn Keeton |
| Preceded byJohn Keeton | British Cruiserweight Champion 29 September 2007 – 3 October 2008 vacated | Succeeded byRobert Norton |
