Iain Weaver
| Iain Weaver | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Iain Weaver |
| Rated at | Featherweight 57kg |
| Nationality | British |
| Born |
17 January 1990 (age 27) Ferndown |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2010 Commonwealth Boxing Championships | ||
 |
2010 New Delhi | Featherweight |
| 2010 European Amateur Boxing Championships | ||
 |
2010 Moscow | Featherweight |
Iain Weaver (born 17 January 1990) is an English professional boxer who turned professional in May 2012. Prior to turning professional he was fighting in the 57 kg Featherweight category. He was a member of the England elite squad as well as the Great British podium squad and won silver at the 2010 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Moscow. Weaver turned professional having failed to make the GB Olympic Squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Weaver boxed for Golden Ring ABC in Southampton and was a member of the Great Britain elite squad trained by Robert McCracken and funded with money from the National Lottery. As a junior Weaver won two junior ABA titles in 2007 and 2008 he was also the Great Britain three nations gold medalist in the same years.
Weaver booked his place in the team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi with a Silver medal at the 2010 European Championships in Moscow. En route to the final Weaver had defeated the Spaniard Rodrigues Molina 11-3 in the 1st round, Sweden's Bashir Hassan-Salad 8-3 in the second and the Frenchman Oualid Belaoura in the quarter finals. A win over Ireland's Tyrone McCullagh in the semi-final set him up for a shot at Germany's Denis Makarov in the final only for him to come undone by the Germans counter punching skills. The performance of Weaver at the championships drew praise from McCracken the head coach who claimed that the success of the younger boxers such as Weaver in Moscow would send out a positive message to the rest of the team. Weavers success in Moscow had also vindicated the decision of McCracken to pick him ahead of Luke Campbell, a gold medalist at the European championships held in Liverpool in 2008. McCracken said of the decision "It doesn't matter if you're a reigning champion or number five in the world...You've got to prove yourself because there are others knocking on your door".
Prior to the European championships Weaver had enjoyed more success in March winning gold at the Commonwealth boxing championships in New Delhi. Speaking of his achievement his dad Jay Weaver described the result as like "winning the lottery". Weaver defeated Olympic bronze medalist Bruno Julie, India’s Commonwealth gold medallist Akhil Kumar and Sri Lankan MDK Wanniarachchi in the final of the 56 kg category. Prior to the victory in the championships Weaver had also won gold in the 2008 junior championships held in Pune where he came from 4 points down to beat local fighter Vitas Krishna 16-10. Speaking again of his son's victory over Kumar in the 2010 competition Jay Weaver said "Akhil Kumar is a god in India. He’s phenomenal, so for Iain to beat him the way he did is some achievement. It stands him in good stead for the main Commonwealth Games in October." Weaver was selected in the England team to contest the main Commonwealth Games in 2010 which were again held in Delhi. He defeated Vusie Simelane of Swaziland 10-1 to set up a quarter final clash against Kumar, the home town favourite. Kumar however proved to be too wily for the Englishman and came out an 11-6 winner to avenge his defeat earlier in the year before a vocal crowd.
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