John Keeton (born 19 May 1972) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2009. He held the British cruiserweight title and challenged twice for the Commonwealth cruiserweight title between 2006 and 2007.
Early professional career Keeton had his first professional contest on 11 August 1993, scoring a stoppage win over Tony Colclough in Mansfield. For the first three years of his career Keeton's results were a mixture of victories and defeats losing to the likes of Julius Francis, Bruce Scott and Nicky Piper. Following the Piper defeat on 7 July 1995, Keeton scored a run of five victories to earn a shot at the British title for the first time.
British challenger and champion Keeton's first fight for the British title ended in failure, losing to Terry Dunstan in the first round of their meeting at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on 11 May 1996. He earned another shot at the title on 16 December 2000, but lost once more, this time to Bruce Scott in the sixth round at the Sheffield Arena. His final unsuccessful fight for the title came on 1 June 2006 against Mark Hobson when the Commonwealth belt was also on the line at the Barnsley Metrodome. Success finally came Keeton's way on 20 October 2006, when the now vacant cruiserweight title was contested between himself and Lee Swaby resulting in a seventh round win and the championship belt. He lost the belt in his very first defence against former champion Mark Hobson on 29 September 2007, at the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield.
Title wins and challenges In between his challenges for the British title, Keeton won a number of fringe title belts including the WBO Inter-continental cruiserweight title against Garry Delaney on 23 January 1999 in Cheshunt and the WBF cruiserweight title against Jake Kilrain on 19 March 2003 in Slough. He challenged unsuccessfully for the WBO Inter-continental title prior to winning it, losing to the undefeated Kelly Oliver on 11 October 1997. He travelled to Poland to contest the WBC Youth World cruiserweight title on 11 June 2000 losing to Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (and travelled to Canada to challenge for the Commonwealth title losing to Troy Ross on 19 March 2007.
Prizefighter After losing his British title to Mark Hobson in September 2007, Keeton took a break from the ring and only returned on 19 May 2009 to compete in the seventh Prizefighter tournament featuring the cruiserweights at Earls Court Exhibition Centre. He faced Bruce Scott in the first round, Keeton scored a knock down and won on points over three rounds. In the semi-finals he met Dean Francis, the former European and two-weight British champion, knocking him out in the first round. The final of the tournament pitched Keeton against Ovill McKenzie, who he lost to on points.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes45Loss28–17Ovill McKenzieUD319 May 200944Win28–16Dean FrancisKO1 (3), 19 May 200943Win27–16Bruce ScottUD319 May 200942Loss26–16Mark HobsonTKO4 (12), 29 Sep 200741Loss26–15Troy RossKO2 (12), 19 Mar 200740Win26–14Lee SwabyTKO7 (12), 20 Oct 200639Loss25–14Mark HobsonTKO4 (12), 1 Jun 200638Loss25–13Don Diego PoederKO1 (10), 10 Sep 200537Loss25–12Krzysztof WłodarczykRTD3 (10), 11 Jun 200536Win25–11Paul BonsonPTS414 May 200535Win24–11Paul BonsonPTS416 Apr 200434Win23–11Butch LesleyPTS1219 Mar 200233Win22–11Radcliffe GreenPTS421 Jul 200132Loss21–11Bruce ScottKO6 (12)16 Dec 200031Win21–10Tony BoothTKO2 (4)29 Feb 200030Win20–10William BarimaRTD3 (6), 15 May 199929Win19–10Garry DelaneySD1223 Jan 199928Win18–10Kelly OliverTKO2 (6), 18 Jul 199827Loss17–10Jacob MofokengRTD4 (10)16 May 199826Loss17–9Kelly OliverTKO8 (12), 11 Oct 199725Win17–8Nigel RaffertyTKO6 (6), 12 Apr 199724Win16–8Nigel RaffertyRTD3 (6)14 Dec 199623Win15–8John PierrePTS414 Sep 199622Loss14–8Terry DunstanTKO1 (12)11 May 199621Win14–7Cesar KazadiTKO3 (8)30 Jan 199620Win13–7Denzil BrowneTKO4 (8), 11 Nov 199519Win12–7Monty WrightTKO4 (8)3 Nov 199518Win11–7Nicky WadmanTKO1 (6)27 Oct 199517Win10–7Steve OsborneTKO4 (6)15 Sep 199516Loss9–7Nicky PiperRTD2 (8), 7 Jul 199515Win9–6Simon McDougallTKO5 (8)6 Mar 199514Loss8–6Rüdiger MayUD611 Feb 199513Loss8–5Bruce ScottKO2 (8)9 Dec 199412Win8–4Lee ArcherPTS626 Oct 199411Loss7–4Dirk WallynKO3 (6)24 Sep 199410Win7–3Mark WalkerTKO5 (6)6 Sep 19949Win6–3Devon RhoomsTKO2 (6)2 Jun 19948Win5–3John RiceTKO5 (6)11 May 19947Win4–3Eddie KnightRTD5 (6)9 Apr 19946Loss3–3Dermot GascoyneTKO1 (6)17 Feb 19945Win3–2Dennis BaileyRTD2 (6)19 Jan 19944Loss2–2Julius FrancisPTS41 Dec 19933Win2–1Darren McKennaTKO3 (6)27 Oct 19932Loss1–1Val GoldingPTS615 Sep 19931Win1–0Tony ColcloughTKO1 (6)11 Aug 1993
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