Billy Irwin (boxer)
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Full name | William Irwin | ||||||||||||||
Born | Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada | May 20, 1968||||||||||||||
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Sport | Boxing | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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William Irwin (born May 20, 1968, Niagara Falls, Ontario, nicknamed "Billy the Kid", is a retired Canadian amateur lightweight and professional light/light welter/welterweight boxer of the 1990s and 2000s who as an amateur won a bronze medal in the Boxing at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba, losing to eventual silver medal winner Patrice Brooks of the United States, represented Canada at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Sydney, Australia losing to Julien Lorcy of France. He represented Canada at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona but was stopped in the second round of the lightweight division (– 60 kg) by Ronald Chavez of the Philippines.
As a professional, he won the Canadian Professional Boxing Council,[2] lightweight title, Canada lightweight title, International Boxing Organization (IBO) lightweight title, World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental Americas lightweight title, and Commonwealth lightweight title, and was a challenger for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight title against Paul Spadafora, and World Boxing Association (WBA) World lightweight title against Juan Díaz, his professional fighting weight varied from 133+1⁄2 lb (60.6 kg; 9 st 7.5 lb), i.e. lightweight to 142 lb (64.4 kg; 10 st 2.0 lb), i.e. welterweight.[3]
Irwin's last stand was in 2005, up against the undefeated World Champion Juan Diaz. After losing to Diaz, Irwin walked away in class retiring from a very respectable pro boxing career that spanned over 12 years. He was a four time Canadian National Champion, a Bronze Medalist at the Pan-American Games, with an amateur record of 130-20-0 and with an impressive professional boxing record of 44 (31)–5-0.
He now trains amateurs, upcoming international fighters and professional boxers in Niagara Falls, Ontario. One of his fighters won the 2012 Canadian Champion Best Youth Boxer Award.
References
[edit]- ^ "Max Photography". Retrieved 2017-10-01.
- ^ Canadian Professional Boxing Council website. Accessed November 23, 2022.
- ^ "Billy Irwin". BoxRec.com. December 31, 2013. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
- William Irwin. Canadian Olympic Committee. at the Wayback Machine (archived September 27, 2007)
- Falls boxers shines at championship. Niagara Falls Review. March 7, 2012. at the Wayback Machine (archived March 4, 2016)
External links
[edit]- Boxing record for Billy Irwin from BoxRec (registration required)
- Billy Irwin at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- William Irwin at Olympics.com
- William Irwin at Team Canada
- William Irwin at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
- 1968 births
- Lightweight boxers
- Living people
- Boxers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
- Boxers at the 1991 Pan American Games
- Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Olympic boxers for Canada
- Commonwealth Games competitors for Canada
- Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada
- Sportspeople from Niagara Falls, Ontario
- Canadian male boxers
- Pan American Games medalists in boxing
- Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games
- 20th-century Canadian sportsmen
- Canadian boxing biography stubs