Adrian Diaconu (born 9 June 1978) is a Romanian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2011, and held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 2008 to 2009. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the middleweight division at the 1999 World Championships and bronze in the light-middleweight division at the 1997 World Championships. Diaconu was born in Ploieşti, Romania, but fought out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada for almost his entire professional career.

Adrian Diaconu
Diaconu in 2007
Born (1978-06-09) 9 June 1978 (age 45)
Ploieşti, Romania
NationalityRomanian
Other namesThe Shark
Statistics
Weight(s)Light-heavyweight
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Reach183 cm (72 in)
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights30
Wins27
Wins by KO15
Losses3
Medal record
Representing  Romania
Men's amateur boxing
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1999 Houston Middleweight
Bronze medal – third place 1997 Budapest Light-middleweight
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Minsk Light-middleweight

Amateur career edit

Diaconu represented Romania at the 2000 Olympics in the middleweight division.

Olympic results:

Professional career edit

Following the Olympics, Diaconu made his professional debut in 2001 and competed exclusively as a light-heavyweight. He went on to claim his first regional championship in June 2005, winning the Canadian title with a fifth-round knockout of Conal MacPhee. In December 2005, Diaconu won the WBC International title after knocking out Darrin Humphrey. This was followed up with a knockout against Max Heyman to win the vacant WBANABA and TAB titles. Diaconu vacated his Canadian title to face Rico Hoye in an eliminator bout for the WBC world title. He was successful, dominating Hoye until a stoppage in the third round. With the win, Diaconu became the mandatory challenger for then-WBC world champion Chad Dawson.[1]

In October 2007, world cruiserweight champion David Haye described Diaconu as "the future of the light-heavyweight division."[2]

On 19 April 2008, Diaconu won the vacant WBC interim title with a twelve-round unanimous decision over Chris Henry in Romania; the interim title being at stake to allow full titleholder Chad Dawson to make an optional defense after a previous injury-produced delay to the mandated bout. In July 2008, Diaconu was elevated to full champion status after Dawson vacated the title to avoid having to make the mandatory defense.[3]

Diaconu suffered his first career defeat and lost the WBC world title to Jean Pascal on 19 June 2009, and would go on to lose a rematch on 11 December 2009. Diaconu's final professional fight took place on 21 May 2011 against former champion Chad Dawson, who defeated Diaconu by a unanimous decision after twelve rounds. A year later, Diaconu announced his retirement from boxing, stating that he felt a lack of support from his promoters, Interbox, to organize significant fights for him.[4]

Professional boxing record edit

30 fights 27 wins 3 losses
By knockout 15 0
By decision 12 3
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
30 Loss 27–3 Chad Dawson UD 12 21 May 2011 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
29 Win 27–2 Omar Sheika UD 10 15 Oct 2010 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
28 Loss 26–2 Jean Pascal UD 12 11 Dec 2009 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada For WBC light-heavyweight title
27 Loss 26–1 Jean Pascal UD 12 19 May 2009 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Lost WBC light-heavyweight title
26 Win 26–0 David Whittom UD 8 4 Apr 2009 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
25 Win 25–0 Chris Henry UD 12 19 Apr 2008 Polyvalent Hall, Bucharest, Romania Won WBC interim light-heavyweight title
24 Win 24–0 Rico Hoye TKO 3 (12), 0:32 9 May 2007 Studio Mel's, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
23 Win 23–0 Orlando Rivera UD 10 15 Sep 2006 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
22 Win 22–0 Andre Thysse UD 12 16 May 2006 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Retained WBC International light-heavyweight title
21 Win 21–0 Max Heyman KO 4 (12), 3:00 24 Mar 2006 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Won vacant WBANABA and TAB light-heavyweight titles
20 Win 20–0 Darrin Humphrey TKO 11 (12), 2:56 2 Dec 2005 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Won vacant WBC International light-heavyweight title
19 Win 19–0 Conal MacPhee TKO 2 (10), 2:00 16 Sep 2005 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Retained Canada light-heavyweight title
18 Win 18–0 Conal MacPhee TKO 5 (10), 3:00 3 May 2005 Maurice Richard Arena, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Won vacant Canada light-heavyweight title
17 Win 17–0 James Crawford TKO 1 (8) 12 Apr 2005 Galaţi, Romania
16 Win 16–0 Jesse Sanders TKO 4 (6), 3:00 18 Mar 2005 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
15 Win 15–0 Roberto Coelho UD 10 20 Mar 2004 Montreal Casino, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
14 Win 14–0 Rico Cason TKO 3 (8), 2:45 20 Dec 2003 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
13 Win 13–0 Tiwon Taylor KO 2 (8), 1:14 22 Nov 2003 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
12 Win 12–0 Ronald Cobbs TKO 3 (6) 17 May 2003 Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US
11 Win 11–0 Isidore Janvier UD 8 5 Apr 2003 Arena Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
10 Win 10–0 Ron Johnson KO 1 (8), 1:44 28 Feb 2003 Aréna Léonard-Grondin, Granby, Quebec, Canada
9 Win 9–0 Shaun Creegan UD 8 14 Dec 2002 Armory, Dorchester, Massachusetts, US
8 Win 8–0 Kenny Bowman MD 6 6 Sep 2002 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
7 Win 7–0 Ganny Dovidovas KO 3 (8) 31 May 2002 Polyvalent Hall, Bucharest, Romania
6 Win 6–0 Melroy Corbin UD 6 26 Apr 2002 Hershey Centre, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
5 Win 5–0 Francis Doiron KO 1 (6), 1:40 30 Nov 2001 Molson Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
4 Win 4–0 Claudio Ortiz UD 4 20 Jul 2001 Stade L.P. Gaucher, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada
3 Win 3–0 Eric Olds UD 4 10 Jul 2001 Molson Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2 Win 2–0 Todd Black KO 1 (4), 0:36 5 Jun 2001 Pavillon de la Jeunesse, Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada
1 Win 1–0 Mark Newton TKO 1 (4), 2:34 2 Mar 2001 Molson Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Professional debut

References edit

  1. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/cp/sports/070509/s050985A.html[dead link]
  2. ^ Getting to know...David Haye, Part Two Archived 26 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ ESPN – Dawson vacates 175-pound title to gird for possible showdown with Tarver – Boxing
  4. ^ "Diaconu says goodbye". fightnews.com. 14 May 2012. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.

External links edit

Sporting positions
Regional boxing titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Éric Lucas
Canada light-heavyweight champion
3 June 2005 – June 2007
Vacated
Vacant
Title next held by
Jason Naugler
Vacant
Title last held by
Pietro Aurino
WBC International
light-heavyweight champion

2 December 2005 – October 2007
Vacated
Vacant
Title next held by
Silvio Branco
Vacant
Title last held by
George Khalid Jones
WBANABA
light-heavyweight champion

24 March 2006 – August 2007
Vacated
Vacant
Title next held by
Chris Henry
New title TAB light-heavyweight champion
24 March 2006 – 2008
Vacated
Title discontinued
World boxing titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Roy Jones Jr.
WBC light-heavyweight champion
Interim title

19 April 2008 – 11 July 2008
Promoted
Vacant
Title next held by
Chad Dawson
Preceded by
Chad Dawson
vacated
WBC light heavyweight champion
11 July 2008 – 19 June 2009
Succeeded by