# Paul Ingle

Paul Andrew Ingle (born 22 June 1972) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2000. He held featherweight world championships, including the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from 1999 to 2000 and the lesser International Boxing Organization (IBO) title in 2000. At regional level he held the European, British, and Commonwealth titles between 1997 and 1999. As an amateur, Ingle represented Great Britain at the 1992 Summer Olympics, reaching the second round of the flyweight bracket.

## Amateur career

Ingle was a member of the 1992 British Olympic team and competed in the flyweight division. In the first round he defeated Alexander Baba of Ghana by 9–7, but lost 12–13 in the second round to eventual gold medallist Choe Chol-su of North Korea. He won the 1991 Amateur Boxing Association British flyweight title, boxing out of Scarborough ABC.

## Professional career

Ingle made his professional debut on 23 March 1994, scoring a third-round knockout over Darren Noble. On 11 January 1997, he stopped Colin McMillan in eight rounds to win his first regional championship, the British featherweight title. Later that year, on 11 October, Ingle defeated Jon Jo Irwin by eighth-round corner retirement to win the Commonwealth featherweight title. Ingle completed the regional trifecta when he won the European featherweight title on 26 September 1998, stopping Billy Hardy in eight rounds.

### First world title challenge

By the time Ingle challenged for his first world title against WBO featherweight champion Naseem Hamed, he had won 21 consecutive fights without a loss. During the entrances for their fight, Ingle was kept waiting in the ring for six minutes. Angered by this, he and his trainer Steve Pollard went back to the dressing room and only returned after Hamed had finally made his own entrance. In the opening round of the fight, Ingle was knocked down and barely made it out of the round following an onslaught of punches by Hamed. A body shot floored Ingle again in the sixth, but with twenty seconds remaining he emerged unscathed. In rounds nine and ten, Ingle had some success by bloodying Hamed's nose. A third knockdown in the eleventh ended Ingle's challenge, as referee Joe Cortez deemed him unable to continue as he stood up on shaky legs.

### IBF featherweight champion

Despite this first career loss, Ingle received another world title opportunity in his next fight, on 13 November 1999. He went on to defeat IBF featherweight champion Manuel Medina by unanimous decision, albeit suffering a knockdown in the twelfth and final round. In his first defence of the title, Ingle travelled to the United States for the first time and fought on the undercard of Lennox Lewis vs. Michael Grant. Facing him was former two-weight world champion Junior Jones, who held the IBO featherweight title. In an action-packed fight which was close on the judges' scorecards, Ingle was knocked down in round nine, but rallied back in dramatic fashion to stop Jones in the eleventh.

### Retirement and life after boxing

Ingle's boxing career ended on 16 December 2000, losing both the IBF and IBO titles to Mbulelo Botile. The fight had undergone several postponements due to Ingle sustaining injuries in training and being unable to make the 126 lbs featherweight limit. After suffering a knockdown in round eleven, Ingle went down again in the twelfth and did not rise for several minutes. He was stretchered out of the ring and hospitalised for a blood clot on the brain, spending four weeks in intensive care before suffering a brain injury from which he never fully recovered. A boxing gym, the Paul Ingle Boxing Academy, has since opened in his honour, in Hull.

## Professional boxing record

| 25 fights | 23 wins | 2 losses |
| By knockout | 16 | 2 |
| By decision | 7 | 0 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 25 | Loss | 23–2 | Mbulelo Botile | TKO | 12 (12), 0:20 | 16 Dec 2000 | Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England | Lost IBF and IBO featherweight titles |
| 24 | Win | 23–1 | Junior Jones | TKO | 11 (12), 1:16 | 29 Apr 2000 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US | Retained IBF featherweight title; Won IBO featherweight title |
| 23 | Win | 22–1 | Manuel Medina | UD | 12 | 13 Nov 1999 | Sports Arena, Hull, England | Won IBF featherweight title |
| 22 | Loss | 21–1 | Naseem Hamed | TKO | 11 (12), 0:45 | 10 Apr 1999 | MEN Arena, Manchester, England | For WBO featherweight title |
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Billy Hardy | TKO | 8 (12), 2:53 | 26 Sep 1998 | Barbican Centre, York, England | Retained Commonwealth featherweight title; Won European featherweight title |
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Rakhim Mingaleyev | KO | 4 (12), 2:53 | 8 Aug 1998 | The Spa, Scarborough, England | Won vacant IBF Inter-Continental featherweight title |
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Moussa Sangare | RTD | 10 (12), 3:00 | 9 Jun 1998 | Hull Arena, Hull, England | |
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Trust Ndlovu | PTS | 12 | 28 Mar 1998 | Hull Arena, Hull, England | Retained Commonwealth featherweight title |
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Jon Jo Irwin | RTD | 8 (12), 3:00 | 11 Oct 1997 | Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England | Retained British featherweight title; Won Commonwealth featherweight title |
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Michael Alldis | RTD | 11 (12), 3:00 | 28 Apr 1997 | Hull Arena, Hull, England | Retained British featherweight title |
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Colin McMillan | TKO | 8 (12), 1:42 | 11 Jan 1997 | York Hall, London, England | Won British featherweight title |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Chris Jickells | KO | 4 (8) | 6 Nov 1996 | Hull Arena, Hull, England | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Brian Robb | KO | 2 (8) | 3 Sep 1996 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Ervine Blake | KO | 2 (8) | 29 Jun 1996 | Erith Leisure Centre, London, England | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Greg Upton | KO | 10 (10), 1:54 | 5 Feb 1996 | Crook Log Leisure Centre, London, England | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Demir Nanev | KO | 5 (8) | 15 Dec 1995 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Miguel Matthews | KO | 4 (8) | 29 Sep 1995 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Des Gargano | TKO | 2 (6), 0:23 | 16 Jun 1995 | Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, London, England | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Peter Buckley | PTS | 8 | 27 Apr 1995 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Peter Buckley | PTS | 8 | 23 Feb 1995 | Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, London, England | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Graham McGrath | PTS | 6 | 24 Nov 1994 | Cottingham, England | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Anthony Hanna | PTS | 6 | 3 Aug 1994 | Whitchurch Sports Centre, Bristol, England | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Neil Swain | KO | 4 (6) | 25 May 1994 | Colston Hall, Bristol, England | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Graham McGrath | PTS | 4 | 27 Apr 1994 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Darren Noble | KO | 3 (6), 2:59 | 23 Mar 1994 | STAR Centre, Cardiff, Wales | |