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Former World Boxing Federation
(WBF) World Super Flyweight
Champion Peter Culshaw
was born in Liverpool, England
on March 15, 1973. After an
accomplished amateur career, he
turned professional at age
twenty on July 2, 1993 on a show
at the Everton Park Sports
Centre in his home-town.
Fighting at Flyweight at the
time, it was never easy to find
suitable opponents for “The
Choir Boy”, and in his first
three years in the paid ranks he
only boxed three, three and two
times, compiling a 7-0-1 (2)
record on the small-hall
circuit.
In his first fight of 1996, on
March 5, he picked up the vacant
BBBC Central Area Flyweight
title when tough
Blackpool-journeyman Louis
Veitch (6-15-3) was stopped due
to a cut eyebrow in the third
round. It was not a
groundbreaking victory, but
Culshaw was now a championship
boxer.
Just over a month later he beat
Lyndon Kershaw (10-6-2) in three
rounds, setting up a June 25
challenge of South African
Commonwealth champion Daniel
Ward (24-6) at the Leisure
Centre in Stevenage. Culshaw
made what appeared to be a tough
task into an easy nights work,
stopping Ward in round three.
Beating Ward so handily was
quite an accomplishment, so when
Culshaw retained his
Commonwealth title the following
September with a seventh round
TKO of undefeated Kenyan James
Wanene (8-0), it looked only a
matter of time before a world
championship belt would be
around his waist.
Unfortunately Culshaw would be
inactive for almost a year, as
his next fight was a low-profile
stay-busy bout against Jason
Thomas (2-5) on August 2, 1997
in Barnsley. Culshaw won on
points over eight rounds,
shaking off some rust before his
next title-defense.
On September 11 that same year,
things went sour when he faced
Ady Lewis (13-0) and lost the
Commonwealth title by TKO in the
eighth round at the Kingsway
Leisure Centre in Widnes, on the
undercard of Robin Reid
defending the WBC World Super
Middleweight title against
Hacine Cherifi.
It was just not his night, and
Culshaw had to regroup to get
his otherwise promising career
back on track. In March of 1998
he took the first step by
winning the WBU International
Super Flyweight title against
Foudil Madani, a man with no
verifiable pro record at the
time, stopping the Algerian in
four rounds.
In October of 1998 it was on
paper a more daunting task when
he faced former WBC world
title-challenger Mzukisi Marali
(14-4) from South Africa for the
vacant WBU World Flyweight
crown, but Culshaw was on top of
his game and won in seven
rounds.
He didn't have quite as easy a
ride against Zolile Mbityi
(21-4-1), another South African
former world title-challenger,
on March 5, 1999, but in the end
Culshaw retained the WBU belt
with a close split decision in
front of his home crowd.
Two more WBU defenses followed,
with victories over Adrian Ochoa
(27-11-4) and Oscar Andrade
(23-19-1), before a genuine
Flyweight Super-Fight was
arranged for May 24, 2000 at
Carnival City in South Africa,
against local legend “Baby” Jake
Matlala (50-12-2).
Claimed to be, at least at the
time, the smallest man to ever
win a world championship,
Matlala was a genuine hero to
his people, and had fought the
best in the world, beating
several of them, in a long and
glorious career.
Culshaw proved his mettle by
agreeing to fight Matlala in his
back-yard, and he proved his
class by grinding it out with
the massively accomplished and
experienced home-man for twelve
hard rounds before winning a
close, but deserved, majority
decision.
Six months later Dimitar Alipiev
(13-2) was dispatched in one
round, and in June of 2001
quality operator Ian Napa (9-1)
was halted in eight by Culshaw.
His world class was undeniable,
but he was finding it hard to
continue making the flyweight
limit and consequently decided
to move up a division.
A couple of routine victories in
his new weight class set Culshaw
up for a crack at the vacant WBF
World Super Flyweight title.
Headlining at the Olympia in
Liverpool on November 29, 2002,
his opponent would again be
brought in from South Africa.
Southpaw Ncedo Cecane may have
had a less-than-spectacular
8-2-2 (4) record, but he was
known as an uncompromising
hard-case, willing and able to
give anyone nightmares in the
ring. And he had every intention
of doing just that to Culshaw.
It turned out as expected, a
very tough encounter with two
ambitious and hungry fighters
trying their best to become WBF
World Champion. For a while it
looked as if it could go either
way, but in the end Culshaw
pulled away and was awarded the
unanimous decision with 116-114,
115-113 and 118-112 scores.
With the victory Culshaw became
the first boxer in history from
Liverpool to win world
championships in two weight
classes. But, while he made six
successful defenses of the WBU
title, his reign as WBF World
Champion would not be quite as
long.
However, he would never lose the
title in the ring. On March 29,
2003 at Wembley Conference
Centre in London, Culshaw
remained WBF World Champion with
a unanimous decision over former
and future WBC World Champion On
Doowiset, AKA
Wandee
Chor Chareon, (38-5) from
Thailand.
In a career with many big wins,
this one was right up there
among the best. Still only
thirty years old, and now an
established headline fighter, it
looked as if it was now, more
than ever, the time for Culshaw
to capitalize on his success.
But for various reasons it would
be almost fifteen months before
he returned to the ring, and
when he did so it was to great
disappointment, losing a
non-title fight over eight
rounds to Russian Andrey Kostin
(14-4), a man he was expected to
beat convincingly.
Culshaw never boxed again, and
retired from boxing with a
24-2-1 (12) record, and Central
Area, Commonwealth, WBU
International, WBU World and
World Boxing Federation (WBF)
World titles on his resume.
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