James Martin Tennyson (born 6 August 1993) is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2012 to 2021. who challenged for the IBF super-featherweight title in 2018 and the IBO lightweight title in May 2021. At regional level he held the Commonwealth and European super-featherweight titles in 2018 and the British lightweight title from 2020 to May 2021.

Professional career Two-Time Irish champion Tennyson is a two-time super-featherweight Irish champion. In 2013, he became the youngest ever modern era Irish champion by defeating former champion Mickey Coveney by knockout (KO) in the second round in what was only his sixth professional contest at the now demolished old St. Kevins Hall. In 2017, he won the title for the second time with a sixth-round technical knockout (TKO) over Dublin's former highly decorated amateur stand out Declan Geraghty at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, live on BoxNation.

Celtic champion He became Celtic featherweight champion in 2015 by way of disqualification after his opponent, Kris Hughes of Scotland, continued to hold after having already been deducted three points in the fight for persistent holding while heavily behind on points. This contest was also a final eliminator for the British featherweight title.

British Featherweight title challenge Tennyson challenged Ryan Walsh for the British featherweight title, losing by fifth-round TKO after having been dropped twice in the fight by body shots. This contest proved to be his last at featherweight having struggled to make the weight.

Lightweight run After a fifth round TKO loss at Super-Featherweight to then IBF Champion, Tevin Farmer in 2018 (once again via body shots), it became apparent that Tennyson was still having to drain himself significantly to make weight and it was affecting his performances in the ring. He made the smart decision to move up to Lightweight the next year. Since making the move, Tennyson had won six straight fights by knockout, including wins over the likes of Atif Shafiq, Craig Evans, Gavin Gwynne (against whom he won the vacant British Lightweight title), and previously unbeaten Josh O’Reilly, before losing to unheralded Mexican Jovanni Straffon by 1st-round TKO.

Tennyson vs. O'Reilly On December 4, 2020, Tennyson fought Josh O'Reilly, who was ranked #7 at lightweight by the WBA, in a world title eliminator. Tennyson won the fight easily via a first round TKO.

Tennyson vs. Straffon In his next bout, Tennyson faced Jovanni Straffon. Tennyson started the fight aggressively but Straffon retaliated with a few power punches of his own. As the pair went toe-to-toe, Straffon had more success, landing the better shots and dropping Tennyson twice before the referee decided to wave the fight off and award him the victory.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes32Loss28–4Jovanni StraffonTKO1 (12), 1 May 202131Win28–3Josh O'ReillyTKO1 (12), 4 Dec 202030Win27–3Gavin GwynneTKO6 (12), 1 Aug 202029Win26–3Craig EvansTKO11 (12), 23 Nov 201928Win25–3Atif ShafiqKO2 (10), 31 Aug 201927Win24–3Brayan MairenaTKO2 (6), 18 May 201926Win23–3Garry NealeKO2 (10), 9 Feb 201925Loss22–3Tevin FarmerTKO5 (12), 20 Oct 201824Win22–2Martin Joseph WardTKO5 (12), 5 May 201822Win21–2Arnoldo SolanoKO1 (8), 3 Feb 201822Win20–2Darren TraynorTKO3 (10), 21 Oct 201721Win19–2Ryan DoyleRTD6 (10), 10 Jun 201720Win18–2Declan GeraghtyTKO6 (10), 10 Mar 201719Win17–2Rafael CastilloPTS45 Nov 201618Loss16–2Ryan WalshTKO5 (12), 30 Apr 201617Win16–1Antonio HorvaticTKO1 (6), 6 Feb 201616Win15–1Sergejs LoginsTKO1 (6), 14 Nov 201515Win14–1Giorgi GachechiladzeTKO2 (8), 17 Oct 201514Win13–1Krzysztof RogowskiTKO3 (6), 6 Jun 201513Win12–1Kris HughesDQ7 (10), 28 Mar 201512Win11–1Simas VolosinasTKO2 (6), 7 Feb 201511Win10–1Ian BaileyPTS810 May 201410Win9–1Ignac KassaiTKO3 (4), 18 Apr 20149Loss8–1Pavels SenkovsTKO2 (6), 19 Oct 20138Win8–0Andrei HramykaTKO1 (6), 28 Jun 20137Win7–0David KanalesKO2 (6), 24 May 20136Win6–0Mickey CoveneyTKO2 (10), 27 Apr 20135Win5–0David KisTKO1 (8), 9 Mar 20134Win4–0Mickey CoveneyPTS67 Dec 20123Win3–0Ignac KassaiTKO1 (4), 3 Nov 20122Win2–0Tibor MeszarosTKO1 (4), 13 Oct 20121Win1–0Fikret RemzievTKO4 (4), 8 Sep 2012

References

External links

James Tennyson - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live