Adrian Diaconu

Adrian Diaconu
Data
Birth Name	Adrian Diaconu
Fight name	The Shark
Weight class	Light heavyweight
nationality	Romanian
birthday	June 9, 1978
place of birth	Ploieşti
style	Left delivery
size	1.75 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	30th
Victories	27
Knockout victories	15th
Defeats	3

Adrian Diaconu medal table
boxer
Romania
World championships
silver	1999	medium weight
bronze	1997	Light middleweight
European championships
bronze	1998	Light middleweight

Adrian Diaconu (born June 9, 1978 in Ploieşti , Romania ) is a former Romanian professional boxer and from July 2008 to June 2009 WBC world light heavyweight champion .

As an amateur he won bronze in the light middleweight division at the 1997 World Championships and silver in the middleweight division at the 1999 World Championships. In 2000, he took part in the Olympic Games and reached the quarter-finals.

Amateur career

Adrian Diaconu won a bronze welterweight medal in 1996 at the Junior World Championships in Havana . He won another bronze medal in 1997 in the light middleweight division at the World Championships in Budapest , including a win against Sergio Martínez . In the semifinals he was eliminated against the eventual world champion Alfredo Duvergel . In the same weight class, he then won a bronze medal at the 1998 European Championships in Minsk . He defeated Károly Balzsay and lost in the semifinals against Ercüment Aslan .

In the middleweight division he reached the final at the 1999 World Championships in Houston , where he had also prevailed against the double world champion and double Olympic champion Ariel Hernández , the Olympic medalist Andrij Fedtschuk and the runner-up world champion Akın Kuloğlu . In the fight for the gold medal he lost to Oʻtkirbek Haydarov .

At the European Championships in Tampere in 2000 , he was eliminated in the quarter-finals, but had defeated the later Olympic champion Gaidarbek Gaidarbekow in the preliminary round . He also won the European Olympic qualification in 2000 in Liverpool , winning in the semifinals against Carl Froch and in the final against Zsolt Erdei . He was then able to take part in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney , where he defeated Abdelghani Kinzi and Jitender Kumar before he was eliminated in the quarterfinals against the eventual Olympic champion Jorge Gutiérrez .

Professional career

Adrian Diaconu started his professional career in Canada , where he was promoted by Interbox and trained by Pierre Bouchard and Stéphan Larouche. One of his training partners was the Romanian boxer Lucian Bute , who is also under contract with Interbox .

Diaconu made his professional debut on March 2, 2001 in Montreal and remained undefeated in 26 fights until June 2009. He became Canadian Champion in June 2005, WBC International Champion in December 2005 and NABA North American Champion in March 2006 . In May 2007 he won a WBC elimination match by technical knockout (TKO) against the American Rico Hoye, who was defeated in March 2005 in the fight for the IBF world title against Clinton Woods .

On April 19, 2008, he boxed for the interim world championship of the WBC in the light heavyweight division against the then undefeated American Chris Henry and won by unanimous decision. When the reigning WBC world champion Chad Dawson did not face any promised title defense until July, the title was revoked and Diaconu was named regular WBC world champion on July 11, 2008.

Diaconu, already in the top 10 of the world rankings by Ring Magazine , lost his first title defense on June 19, 2009 on points against the Canadian Jean Pascal and also lost the rematch in December 2009 on points.

After beating Omar Sheika in October 2010, he played his last professional fight on May 21, 2011 in Montreal, which he lost on points to Chad Dawson.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Junior World Championships 1996
2. ↑ World Championships 1997
3. ↑ European Championships 1998
4. ↑ World Championships 1999
5. ↑ European Championships 2000
6. ↑ Multination tournament 2000
7. ↑ 2000 Olympic Games
8. ^ Q & A with Adrian “The Shark” Diaconu
9. ↑ BoxRec list of professional fights
10. ^ Adrian Diaconu vs. Chris Henry
11. ^ Adrian Diaconu vs. Jean Pascal (1st meeting)
12. ↑ Jean Pascal vs. Adrian Diaconu (2nd meeting)
13. ↑ Chad Dawson vs. Adrian Diaconu

predecessor	Office	successor
Chad Dawson	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) July 11, 2008 - June 19, 2009	Jean Pascal

Web links

• Profile on Boxrec.com