James "JJ" Metcalf (born 27 July 1988) is an English professional boxer who has held the IBO super-welterweight title since May 2023. He previously held the Commonwealth super-welterweight title in 2019 and challenged for the British super-welterweight title in March 2021. He is the son of former boxer Shea Neary.^[2]

Professional career

Metcalf made his professional debut on 3 December 2011, scoring a four-round points decision (PTS) victory over Kevin McCauley at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan, England.^[3]

After compiling a record of 17–0 (9 KOs) he was scheduled to face Jorge Fortea for the vacant WBC International super-welterweight title on 9 June 2018 at the Manchester Arena, as part of the undercard of Tyson Fury's comeback fight against Sefer Seferi. In the week leading up to the fight, Fortea withdrew from the contest with Aitor Nieto stepping in as a late replacement.^[4] Metcalf defeated Nieto via twelfth-round technical knockout (TKO) to capture the WBC International title.^[5]

He was scheduled to return to the Manchester Arena to defend his title against former British and Commonwealth super-welterweight champion, Liam Williams, on 22 December 2018 on the undercard of the Josh Warrington vs. Carl Frampton world title fight. The fight was put in jeopardy after Metcalf suffered an ankle injury. He told promoter Frank Warren that he would inform Warren six weeks prior to the fight whether or not he was fit to go ahead. However, after Warren had lined up a potential replacement for Williams in the event of Metcalf pulling out, Williams decided to instead fight the replacement, Mark Heffron, for the vacant British middleweight title. Metcalf had expressed his intention to go ahead with the bout.^[6]

After the fight with Williams failed to materialise, Metcalf's next fight came against Santos Medrano in April 2019 in a non-title fight, with Metcalf scoring a KO victory in the eighth and final round. After suffering a hand injury in the fight with Medrano, it was expected that Metcalf would not fight again until the end of the year. However, he was scheduled to face former British middleweight champion and former world title challenger, Jason Welborn, for the vacant Commonwealth super-welterweight title on 15 June 2019 at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, again on a Josh Warrington undercard, this time in a world title defence against Kid Galahad.^[7] In a fight which saw Metcalf receive a point deduction for repeated low blows, he scored a KO in the eighth round with a left hook to the body to capture the Commonwealth title.^[8]

After a TKO victory against Jan Balog in February 2020,^[9] Metcalf challenged Ted Cheeseman for the vacant British super-welterweight title on 27 March, at the Europa Point Sports Complex in Gibraltar. The bout was a part of the undercard of Alexander Povetkin vs. Dillian Whyte II, and was televised live on Sky Sports Box Office.^[10] In a closely contested fight, Metcalf was hurt and left on unsteady legs in the fourth, but was able to see out the remainder of the round. Metcalf twice returned the favour, hurting Cheeseman in the sixth and eleventh rounds. After hurting Cheeseman in the eleventh, the latter came back with a combination of punches to knock Metcalf to the canvas. He made it back to his feet on unsteady legs, prompting referee Ian John Lewis to call a halt to the contest, handing Metcalf the first defeat of his career via TKO.^[11]

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
27	Win	25–2	Dennis Hogan	UD	12	20 May 2023	3Arena, Dublin, Ireland	Won IBO light middleweight title
26	Win	24–2	Courtney Pennington	RTD	6 (10), 3:00	10 Dec 2022	First Direct Arena, Leeds, England	Retained WBA Continental super welterweight title
25	Win	23–2	Kerman Lejarraga	UD	10	20 May 2022	Bilbao Arena, Bilbao, Spain	Won vacant WBA Continental super welterweight title
24	Win	22–2	Evgenii Vazem	TKO	5 (6), 1:05	16 Apr 2022	Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
23	Loss	21–2	Kieron Conway	UD	10	9 Oct 2021	Liverpool Arena, Liverpool, England
22	Loss	21–1	Ted Cheeseman	TKO	11 (12), 3:10	27 Mar 2021	Europa Point Sports Complex, Gibraltar	For vacant British super-welterweight title
21	Win	21–0	Jan Balog	TKO	1 (6), 0:32	28 Feb 2020	Grand Central Hall, Liverpool, England
20	Win	20–0	Jason Welborn	KO	8 (12), 2:25	15 Jun 2019	First Direct Arena, Leeds, England	Won vacant Commonwealth super-welterweight title
19	Win	19–0	Santos Medrano	KO	8 (8), 0:30	19 Apr 2019	Liverpool Olympia, Liverpool, England
18	Win	18–0	Aitor Nieto	TKO	12 (12), 2:30	9 Jun 2018	Manchester Arena, Manchester, England	Won vacant WBC International super-welterweight title
17	Win	17–0	Damon Jones	TKO	6 (10)	21 Oct 2017	First Direct Arena, Leeds, England
16	Win	16–0	Konstantin Alexandrov	TKO	1 (6), 2:00	15 Jul 2017	Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England
15	Win	15–0	Jason Ball	RTD	5 (8), 3:00	8 Apr 2017	Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
14	Win	14–0	Serge Ambomo	PTS	8	7 Oct 2016	Greenbank Sports Academy, Liverpool, England
13	Win	13–0	Darryl Sharp	PTS	4	9 Jul 2016	Tudor Grange Leisure Centre, Solihull, England
12	Win	12–0	Tom Knight	TKO	1 (6), 2:48	29 May 2016	Goodison Park, Liverpool, England
11	Win	11–0	Aleksei Tsatiasvili	TKO	4 (6), 2:17	28 Aug 2015	H10 Andalusia Plaza, Puerto Banús, Spain
10	Win	10–0	Chris Jenkinson	RTD	2 (6), 3:00	25 Jul 2015	Sports Village, Ellesmere Port, England
9	Win	9–0	William Warburton	PTS	10	21 Mar 2015	Liverpool Olympia, Liverpool, England
8	Win	8–0	Danny Shannon	TKO	6 (6), 2:41	6 Dec 2014	Liverpool Olympia, Liverpool, England
7	Win	7–0	Ryan Toms	KO	2 (6), 2:21	27 Sep 2014	Liverpool Olympia, Liverpool, England
6	Win	6–0	Gary Boulden	PTS	6	20 Jun 2014	Southport Theatre, Southport, England
5	Win	5–0	Liam Griffiths	PTS	4	29 Mar 2014	Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England
4	Win	4–0	Max Maxwell	PTS	4	14 Dec 2013	Robin Park Centre, Wigan, England
3	Win	3–0	Dee Mitchell	PTS	4	15 Nov 2013	Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England
2	Win	2–0	James Smith	RTD	1 (4), 3:00	21 Jan 2012	Liverpool Olympia, Liverpool, England
1	Win	1–0	Kevin McCauley	PTS	4	3 Dec 2011	Robin Park Centre, Wigan, England

References