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Former World Boxing Federation
(WBF) Intercontinental Light
Heavyweight Champion
Sven “The Hammer” Hamer
from England was a fighter
through and through.
He boxed at a good level as an
amateur, reaching the ABA semi
finals, and he boxed when
serving as a soldier in the
British army. He turned
professional, and after his
“real” boxing career he
continued to fight regularly on
the unlicensed circuit.
Born in Margate, a coastal town
in the south-east of England, on
June 6, 1973, he enlisted in the
British army at seventeen and
served four years in the Queens
regiment, partly in Canada and
Germany.
When he left the army in 1994,
he decided to turn professional
and made his debut at
middleweight against Eddie Haley
(1-0) on October 25 in London,
winning by fourth round
stoppage.
Too much of a fighting man to
demand a soft introduction to
the paid code, Hamer was never
going to have a padded record.
From the start he was willing to
take on all comers, which
resulted in some early losses.
Two years and nine fights in, he
was a very mediocre 5-4 (3) and
looking at that statistic it
would be easy to conclude that
Hamer didn't have what it took
in the pro´s.
But the defeats came against
good opponents in up-and-comers
Delroy Matthews (4-1) and Jason
Matthews (7-0), and Mark Baker
(15-1) and Howard Eastman (12-0)
in Southern Area title fights.
To put things in context, Jason
Matthews went on to become WBO
World Champion, Baker went on to
become WBF World Champion, and
Eastman captured British,
Commonwealth and European
titles.
While it appeared to be in the
cards that Hamer would spend his
professional boxing careers as a
journeyman, he learned from the
set-backs and had other plans in
mind.
After losing to Eastman in
December of 1996, Hamer moved up
to Super Middleweight and went
on a bit of a tear, winning four
straight inside the distance,
three in the first round.
Among those victories were
upsets over Scottish prospect
John Wilson (10-0), and Willie
Quinn (22-2), whom Hamer
demolished in the first round of
a British title eliminator.
At this point, in the fall of
1997, Hamer was on his way to
resurrecting his career, but he
refused to play things safe.
Consequently, he went up to
Light Heavyweight, lost four of
his next eight and was only 13-8
(10) after beating Terry Morrill
(15-6-2) in September of 1999.
But he always gave it his best
and was almost always in
entertaining scraps, so a month
after the Morrill fight he found
himself in the televised
co-feature of a show at David
Lloyd Tennis Centre in London,
fighting Ukrainian champion
Vitaly Kopytko (12-2) for the
WBF Intercontinental title.
On the same card,
Cornelius Carr
beat Dingaan Thobela for the WBF
World Super Middleweight title,
and Jane Couch edged Sharon
Anyos for the WBF Womens World
Light Welterweight crown.
Kopitko had been an accomplished
amateur, and many felt the
tricky southpaw should have been
awarded the decision against
Howard Eastman the previous
year, so he could easily have
been the favorite against Hamer.
But the Englishman boxed very
disciplined that night,
controlling most of the fight
and often found a home for his
right hand, and came through a
tough fight with flying colors
to win his first non-domestic
title fight 97-94 on scoring
referee Larry O´Connell´s card.
Unfortunately this would be the
high-point of Hamer´s career. He
didn't box for another
year-and-a-half, and when he
returned it was in a low-profile
decision victory over four
rounds against journeyman Paul
Bonson (10-36-5).
Three weeks after that, on June
16, 2001, he was halted with a
cut eye against Elvis Mihailenko
(6-0), and this bout turned out
to be the last of his official
professional boxing career.
But, as mentioned earlier, Hamer
was not able to just shake off
his urge to fight, and since he
was only twenty-eight when he
left life as a “real”
professional boxer, he had
plenty of time to continue in
the unlicensed code, which
didn't require the same
commitment.
He did that for a long time,
boxing at Heavyweight against
opponents who rarely came close
to his skill-level and pedigree,
defeating most of them with
ease.
A genuine hard-man in the ring,
Hamer´s official professional
record stands at 15-9 (10).
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