Kevin Anderson (boxer)
Encyclopedia
Kevin Anderson is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 professional boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 who fights in the welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

 division. He is a former British and Commonwealth champion.

Early professional career

Anderson's first fight as a professional took place during April 2003 at the York Hall
York Hall
The York Hall is a health and leisure centre and one of Britain's best known boxing venues.The venue is situated on Old Ford Road in Bethnal Green, London, England. The hall, opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200, stages boxing as well as providing a gymnasium and swimming pool.The hall is owned...

 in Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is a district of the East End of London, England and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, with the far northern parts falling within the London Borough of Hackney. Located northeast of Charing Cross, it was historically an agrarian hamlet in the ancient parish of Stepney,...

 winning his fight in the second round against Paul Mcllwaine. An explosive beginning to his pro career saw him stop each of his next three opponents before going the distance for the first time against Sergey Starkov the tough Russian journeyman. One more points win that year against Frenchman Alban Mothie saw Anderson finish his debut year with an impressive record of 6-0. The fight against Mothie was also notable for the fact that it was the first time Anderson had fought in his native Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 as a professional boxer. All his previous fights that year having been south of the border.

A further six fights and six wins were had during 2004 taking the young prospects record up to 12-0 by the end of that year. The reward for this came in January 2005 when Anderson would fight for the Celtic welterweight title in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, taking on and beating Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

's Glenn McClarnon who had just challenged David Barnes
David Barnes (boxer)
David Barnes is a British professional boxer from Manchester in England who competes in the light welterweight division. He is the former holder of both the British light welterweight and welterweight titles. -Early career:...

 for the full British title in his previous fight. The bout ended in the 4th round when a clash of heads caused a cut above McClarnon's eye and forced the stoppage handing victory and a first career title to Anderson.

British & Commonwealth champion

The new Celtic champion fought once more that year before meeting reigning champion Joshua Okine for the Commonwealth welterweight crown at the Ice Rink in Kirkcaldy, Anderson's home town. The fight was Anderson's toughest test to date with the Scot scoring a split decision win over the man from Ghana who had just beaten British champion Barnes
David Barnes (boxer)
David Barnes is a British professional boxer from Manchester in England who competes in the light welterweight division. He is the former holder of both the British light welterweight and welterweight titles. -Early career:...

 in his previous fight. In March 2006 Anderson defended his newly won title with a victory over fellow Scot Craig Dickson. In June 2006, Anderson travelled south to the Aston Villa Leisure Centre in order to meet British title holder Young Mutley
Lee Woodley
Lee Woodley , better known by his boxing alias Young Mutley, is a British boxer. He is a former British Welterweight champion. His professional record is 22 wins from 25 fights, 12 by knockout. He made his professional debut on 3 September 1999...

 in a unification clash and according to some reports produced one of the comebacks of the year in order to take both belts home. Anderson had been put down in the 2nd round and suffered a nasty cut in the 4th and both fighters were taking some heavy punches before a left hook from Anderson left Mutley reeling in the 10th round. A punch that eventually led to the referee stopping the fight. The man from Kirkcaldy was the new unified British and Commonwealth title holder. One more non title fight that year saw Anderson finish 2006 with two belts and an unbeaten record of 18-0.

Defeat to Nuumbembe

Former soldier Ali Nuumbembe was the first man to defeat the Scot in a professional ring. The man from Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 challenged for the Commonwealth title in February 2007 and ran out a close split decision winner in a fight which took place in Anderson's backyard, the Ice Rink
Fife Ice Arena
Fife Ice Arena opened in 1938. was designed by architects & . Fife Ice Arena is the home venue of the oldest Ice Hockey team in the UK - the Fife Flyers. It is also a venue for public skating, figure skating, speed skating, curling and ice shows...

 in Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. The town lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth; SSE of Glenrothes, ENE of Dunfermline, WSW of Dundee and NNE of Edinburgh...

. Despite still have the consolation of holding the British belt Anderson was left fuming by the scoring of the fight made by one of the judges saying "It was ridiculous. It was like fighting in Italy...I thought I won six out of the first seven and was a round ahead by the time we went into the 12th round...I thought I nicked that round so I couldn't believe that scorecard. But I will come back, I have plenty of time on my side." He was however himself considered fortunate by some to get through the 8th after a cut above his left eye left Anderson struggling to get through the round.

British champion

Anderson's next fight saw him defend his British title against Irishman and former WBU champion Eamonn Magee
Eamonn Magee
Eamonn Magee nicknamed the Terminator is a former boxer who is now a trainer with the Breen Team in Belfast...

 with Anderson claiming that the fight was a great improvement on his last saying "It was a great win. The key was just getting my head right...I was on my toes for the whole 12 rounds. It's a great achievement." In September 2007 he followed the win up with another defence against England's Francis Jones in a fight that proved to be a lot tougher than might have first been thought. Anderson had Jones down in the 10th round before the referee stepped in to stop the fight in the 12th. Speaking after what was now his second defence of his title Anderson said "I was giving him some of my best shots but, to be fair to him, he kept taking them and coming back for more...I thought as the fight went into the later stages that his corner might have pulled him out but he kept coming back for more and more, so all credit to the lad. He gave it everything."

Fights with Kevin McIntyre

Fellow Scot Kevin McIntyre
Kevin McIntyre (boxer)
Kevin McIntyre is a British professional boxer who fights in the welterweight division. he is a former British champion at welterweight.-Early professional career:...

 stunned the British boxing in November 2007 when in what was to be Kevin Anderson's third defence of the title he found himself thoroughly outboxed and put down a number of times by the challenger. McIntyre himself had suffered a number of defeats in his boxing career and was thought to have found his level before winning a unanimous eventual decision to claim the title. An immediate rematch clause was applied and the two boxers found themselves facing each other once again in February 2008. The fight ended in another win for a delighted McIntyre who said after claiming another points win "I needed to prove the last fight wasn't a fluke...Anderson showed that he might have been under par in the first fight but he wasn't tonight, he showed that he was a tough fighter"

The back to back defeats to McIntyre left Anderson needing to refocus and saw the former champion take some time off from the sport. Speaking to Boxing News
Boxing News
Boxing News is the longest-running boxing magazine still in publication, dating back to 1909. Owned by Newsquest Specialist Media .-History:Boxing News was founded in 1909 by original editor John Murray as, simply, Boxing...

 about his break from the ring he said "I needed some time away, to spend with my two kids, to get my head right and around the McIntyre fights. I moved house, had a kid, moved house again, had another kid. I needed the break"
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