Overview
Matthew Marsh (born 1 August 1982) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2010. He held the British super bantamweight title in 2008 and challenged once for the vacant Commonwealth super bantamweight title in 2010. As an amateur, he won two ABA championships, one at flyweight in 2001 and the other at bantamweight in 2004.
Professional career
Early career
Marsh begun his professional career in September 2004 with a win over Freddy James at the York Hall in Bethnal Green. By December 2006 he had compiled a winning ledger of 6–0 with wins over the likes of Welshman Dai Davies and French journeyman Frederic Gosset, and had earned a crack at the Southern Area featherweight championship. He challenged reigning champion Rocky Dean at the Excel Arena in the London Docklands and won a 10-round decision. The two fighters met again in July 2007 this time for the super bantamweight version of the same belt. Going into the second match up Dean was confident saying "I am faster and fitter, and I am twice the fighter I was when I last met Marsh...Last time we met, I gave him the first four rounds. That will not happen again". It was not to be however and Marsh won another 10-round decision which meant that he now held the southern area title at two different weights.
Defeat to Mathews
Following the back to back wins over Rocky Dean, Marsh once again stepped up to featherweight to box the current holder of the WBU title Derry Mathews. Mathews was himself a former ABA bantamweight champion, winning the title in 2002 two years before Marsh would pick up the same crown. The fight in October 2007 ended with a first defeat for Marsh with the step up in class proving a bit too much when the fight was stopped in the 11th round. It was the first time Marsh had been taken beyond 10 rounds and observers noted that the fatigue was beginning to show as he struggled into the later stages.
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