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.text here Mark Hobson professional boxing record BoxRec
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.Maccarinelli keeps WBU title BBC Sport, 5 March 2006 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.Maccarinelli storms to quick win BBC Sport, 14 October 2006
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.Anderson turns tables Times Online, 2 June 2006
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes33Win John KeetonTKO4 (12), 29 Sep 200732Loss26–5–1 Enzo MaccarinelliTKO1 (12), 14 Oct 200631Win26–4–1 Pavol PolakovicUD128 Sep 200630Win25–4–1 John KeetonTKO4 (12), 1 Jun 200629Loss24–4–1 Enzo MaccarinelliUD124 Mar 200628Win24–3–1 Bruce ScottPTS1217 Dec 200427Win23–3–1 Lee SwabyTKO6 (12), 27 May 200426Win22–3–1 Tony MoranTKO3 (12), 13 Mar 200425Win21–3–1 Rob NortonPTS125 Sep 200324Win20–3–1 Muslim BiarslanovTKO2 (8), 10 May 200323Win19–3–1 Abdul KadouTKO4 (12)25 Jan 200322Win18–3–1 Varuzhan DavtyanTKO3 (6)5 Oct 200221Win17–3–1 Lee SwabyPTS1027 Apr 200220Win16–3–1 Valeri SemiskurPTS623 Feb 200219Win15–3–1 Luke SimpkinRTD3 (4), 10 Dec 200118Loss14–3–1 Firat ArslanTKO7 (8)8 Oct 200117Loss14–2–1 Sebastiaan RothmannRTD9 (12), 24 Apr 200116Win14–1–1 Billy BesseyPTS426 Feb 200115Win13–1–1 Mark Lee DawsonTKO1 (6)25 Sep 200014Win12–1–1 Paul BonsonPTS413 May 200013Win11–1–1 Luke SimpkinPTS627 Mar 200012Win10–1–1 Nikolai ErmenkovTKO3 (6)11 Mar 200011Win9–1–1 Brian GascoigneTKO3 (6)6 Dec 199910Win8–1–1 Paul BonsonPTS411 Sept 19999Loss7–1–1 Mark LevyPTS819 Apr 19998Win7–0–1 Danny SoutheramTKO5 (6)26 Nov 19987Win6–0–1 Mark SnipeTKO3 (6)25 Oct 19986Win5–0–1 Martin JolleyTKO3 (6)15 Jun 19985Win4–0–1 Paul BonsonPTS621 May 19984Draw3–0–1 Colin BrownPTS627 Feb 19983Win3–0 P.R. MasonPTS613 Nov 1997 2Win2–0 P.R. MasonPTS66 Oct 19971Win1–0 Michael PinnockPTS69 Jun 1997
References