Geoff McCreesh

Geoff “Unleashed” McCreesh boxed professionally at welterweight and light-middleweight. Born on 12 June 1970 in the Billingham and Stockton-on-Tees area, he was based in Bracknell and worked most of his career out of the small-hall circuit before the bigger nights found him.

He had a solid amateur grounding, winning Home Counties ABA titles and reaching an ABA final, where Joe Calzaghe beat him. There was controversy among the amateurs, too, with a disqualification in an ABA quarter-final after a fighter left the ring during a brawl involving the two camps, the sort of episode that follows a fighter around far longer than it deserves.

He turned professional in February 1994 and won his first seven. In January 1995, he took the vacant Southern Area light-middleweight title against Clay O’Shea, then suffered a broken hand and retired against Dennis Berry two months later. Two disqualification defeats followed, to Michael Smyth and Steve Goodwin, and he had to rebuild the hard way, a reminder that progress is never a straight line for a boxer who likes a scrap.

When the run came, it was a proper one: eight straight wins, including a second-round stoppage of former world lightweight champion Dingaan Thobela, before he was halted by Peter Malinga in South Africa early in 1997. That year remains his defining one. In July 1997, only a month after his mother was killed and his father seriously injured in a car crash, he challenged Kevin Lueshing for the British welterweight title at Wembley Arena. He stopped him in the tenth to take the Lonsdale Belt. He defended it in September by stopping Paul Ryan twice, and later in 1997, he fought Michele Piccirillo for the vacant European welterweight title, losing by ninth-round stoppage.

He made two more successful British title defences in 1998, stopping Michael Smyth in seven in a fight later overshadowed by crowd disorder, then halting Ross Hale in four. In 1999, he relinquished the title and moved up to light-middleweight. In July 2000, he challenged Adrian Stone for the IBO world light-middleweight title and was stopped in six. His last fight of that main run came in April 2001, a points defeat to Ossie Duran.

After boxing, he stayed close to the sport, taking over Bracknell Boxing Academy and coaching. He returned for one more bout in 2012, losing by fifth-round stoppage to Tony Furzer, a brief postscript rather than a restart. His professional record ended at 23 wins, 7 losses, 0 draws, with 9 wins by knockout. The key championship fact remains: he won and defended the British welterweight title, then went on to contest both European and world-level fights.