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Surviving meningitis at the age
of nine, former World Boxing
Federation (WBF) World
Middleweight Champion
Cornelius Carr was a fighter
from early on. Real name John
Thomas Carr, he was born in
April of 1969 in Teeside, near
Middlesbrough, England.
When he was eleven he started
boxing at Grangetown Amateur
Boxing Club in Middlesbrough,
and had a good amateur career,
going 40-3 while reaching the
ABA finals at seventeen and
winning gold for England in a
multi-nations tournament in
Sardinia.
Shortly after his triumph in
Sardinia, Carr decided he wanted
to turn professional and was
signed up by one of the world
leading promoters in Frank
Warren. In September of 1987,
still only eighteen years old,
he made his paid debut at York
Hall in London, stopping Paul
Burton (3-2) in five rounds.
Through December of 1988, Car
build an unblemished 9-0 (6)
record and looked promising
doing it. So it was quite a
shock when he was stopped in
three rounds by unheralded
Beninese Georges Bocco (1-1 on
BoxRec, but he likely had more
unrecorded bouts) on March 22,
1989.
It was back to the
drawing-board, but, while he was
matched carefully over the next
four years, Carr defeated some
decent opponents such as Peter
Gorny (8-3), Frank Eubank (6-4),
a cousin of the legendary Chris
Eubank, Carlo Colarusso (7-4)
and Paul Burton (10-9), among
others.
He also spend time in America,
learning his trade and sparring
the likes of
Roy Jones Jr., who
would also go on to become a WBF
World Champion. Interestingly,
while in the USA, Carr
(voluntarily) went inside the
Louisiana State Penitentiary
where he sparred some of the
prisoners.
At 22-1 (13), and twenty-four
years old, he was deemed ready
to challenge former European
Champion James Cook (25-9) for
his British Super Middleweight
title, on March 11, 1994 in the
main event of a show staged
where it all started for Carr,
the York Hall.
By far the best boxer Carr had
faced, Cook had operated at a
much higher level and won seven
straight since losing the
European title four years
earlier. The Jamaica-born
Londoner held victories over the
likes of Michael Watson, Errol
Christie and Sam Storey, to name
a few, and many felt he would be
too much for Carr.
But Carr proved his doubters
wrong, and became British Super
Middleweight Champion after
twelve rounds, as scoring
referee Paul Thomas handed in a
tally of 118-116,5. It was a
break-through night for Carr,
who made a name for himself and
gatecrashed the world rankings.
Unfortunately things stalled
after that, as Cornelius only
had three fights, all
low-profile non-title bout
victories, over the next sixteen
months. But when the next big
fight finally came, in the
winter of 1995, it was an
outright monster!
Frank Warren matched Carr with
reigning WBO World Super
Middleweight Champion Steve
Collins (30-3) on November 25 at
The Point in Dublin, Ireland.
Collins had taken the title from
Chris Eubank and retained it in
a rematch, so it was a
monumental task for the
challenger.
In front of 7000 fans, Carr did
extremely well and gave Collins
a grueling fight before losing
on points by scores of 116-112,
116-112 and 117-111, margins
which didn't do the effort of
Carr much justice. Collins
deserved to win, but Carr proved
he was genuine world class.
After a routine comeback victory
over Danny Juma (2-4-1) in March
of1996, Carr didn't box for over
a year before he stepped in the
ring against the excellent Dean
Francis (15-1) in a fight for
the WBO Intercontinental Super
Middleweight title.
Francis was not the kind of
opponent you could beat rusty,
and the inactivity proved
disastrous as Carr was stopped
in seven rounds. All the
momentum he had gained from the
world title-challenge against
Collins was now gone, and it was
time to rebuild once again.
After one-and-a-half year out of
the ring, and no longer promoted
by Warren, Carr returned as a
Middleweight in September of
1998 to stop journeyman Darren
Covill (7-9-1) in two rounds on
a small show at the Town Hall in
Acton, west London.
After two more wins at his new
weight-class to round out 1998,
big things were in the making
for 1999 as Carr was awarded a
huge opportunity to win the
vacant WBF World Middleweight
title against American former
two-time world champion Simon
Brown.
Unfortunately Brown was forced
to pull out shortly before the
February fight due to injury,
and a hasty replacement was
found in former Commonwealth
ruler and WBO world
title-challenger Steve “The
Viking” Foster (20-15-2) from
Manchester.
Game but on the down-slide, the
38-year-old Foster tried his
hardest but could not keep up
with the superior boxing ability
of Carr, who won the WBF World
Middleweight title by wide
120-108, 120-109 and 120-110
scores.
The first world title-defense
for Carr was set for October 31,
1999 at the David Lloyd Tennis
Centre in Raynes Park, London.
The man in the opposite corner
was former WBO and WBA, and
future WBC, world champion
Dingaan Thobela (38-6-2) from
South Africa.
Amazingly, Thobela had turned
professional at Featherweight
thirteen years earlier, and won
the WBO World Lightweight title
in 1990 and the WBA World
Lightweight title in 1993. A
year after the fight against
Carr, “The Rose of Soweto” beat
another Brit in Glenn Catley for
the WBC World Super Middleweight
crown.
So it was not just anybody whom
Carr faced that night, and it
was by far not an over-the-hill
former world champion coming for
a pay-day. Thobela proved his
class, and one judge saw it
completely even at 114-114.
Luckily for Carr, the two other
judges had him winning 117-114
and 117-113.
The Thobela victory was arguably
the high-point of his career.
Carr went inactive for another
year, and returned to Super
Middleweight in December of
2000, winning a four-rounder on
points against Gary Beardsley
(10-6-1).
In February of 2001 he lost on
points over six rounds to Sam
Soliman (11-6) from Australia,
who, while he would prove to be
a top-class fighter and win
world championships later in his
career, was considered someone
that Carr should beat handily.
Still only thirty-one years old
at the time, Carr never boxed
again and retired with a fine
34-4 (17) record. He instead
decided to pass on his knowledge
to others, and became a personal
trainer. These days he lives in
seaside town Bournemouth.
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