Bradley Skeete

Bradley “Super” Skeete is a British former professional boxer from Tooting, south London, who boxed orthodox and made his name at welterweight before finishing up at light-middleweight. Tall for the welter class at 6ft 1in, he was a range-fighter by instinct, happiest when he could spear a jab, step off, and make an opponent cross too much ground for too little reward. He turned professional on the 23rd October 2010 and boxed through to the 4th December 2021, retiring with a record of 29 wins and 4 losses from 33 fights, scoring 14 knockouts. His best stretch brought him the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles in 2016, and he held the British belt through 2017.

He was moved with patience in the early years, building his record the traditional way and collecting the kind of regional titles that show a fighter is being prepared rather than merely kept busy. In December 2012, he stopped Chas Symonds to win the Southern Area welterweight title and later defended it against Peter McDonagh. In November 2013, he outpointed Colin Lynes to take the English welterweight championship. This win mattered because Lynes was a seasoned operator who knew all the tricks and would not be bullied by reputation.

The first proper spotlight came on the 29th November 2014 at ExCeL London, when Skeete challenged Frankie Gavin for the British welterweight title, with the Commonwealth belt also on the line. Skeete went in unbeaten and came out with the first defeat of his career, losing over twelve rounds in a fight that had its share of argument afterwards, the sort of decision night that leaves one corner convinced the other man has borrowed their belt.

He responded like a fighter who believed he belonged there. In February 2015, he won the WBO European welterweight title with a first-round knockout of Anzor Gamgebeli. Then he defended it in the proper way, stopping Mark Thompson, taking a retirement from Brunet Zamora, and outpointing Stevie Williams. The pattern suited him. With his height and length, he could make a fight feel awkward for smaller men, controlling the centre with straight shots and refusing to get dragged into the scrapping that turns a boxer into a brawler against his will.

The peak arrived in March 2016 when he outboxed and beat Sam Eggington to win the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles, a significant domestic victory because Eggington’s whole business was pressure and discomfort. Skeete kept the fight at the range he wanted and did his best work with the cleaner punches. He then went through the grind of defences, beating John Thain over twelve, stopping Shayne Singleton, and outpointing Dale Evans in July 2017, three nights that underlined his strengths: distance, discipline, and the ability to keep an opponent reaching.

Once a man has shown the division what he is, the questions get sharper. In April 2018, Skeete travelled to Bilbao for the vacant European welterweight title and was stopped in two rounds by Kerman Lejarraga, a violent reminder that the jump beyond Britain can be punishing. In December 2018, he was stopped again, this time by Diego Ramirez in a fight for a vacant WBO International title. He returned in 2021 with a stoppage win over Dale Arrowsmith. Still, his last fight came on the 4th December 2021 at the Copper Box Arena, when he challenged Hamzah Sheeraz for the WBO European light-middleweight title and was stopped in the ninth, a bout marred by controversy, including a point deduction against the champion for striking him while he was down.

Skeete announced his retirement in 2022. His career reads as that of a tall, rangy technician who did not need to be dramatic to be effective, who won meaningful domestic titles the hard way, and who, at his peak, was a complex problem for any welterweight who preferred easy angles and short-range exchanges.