| James Tennyson | |
| Nickname: | The Assassin |
| Weight: | |
| Height: | 5 ft 8 in |
| Nationality: | Northern Irish |
| Birth Date: | 6 August 1993 |
| Birth Place: | Lisburn, Northern Ireland |
| Stance: | Orthodox |
| Total: | 32 |
| Wins: | 28 |
| Ko: | 24 |
| Losses: | 4 |
James Martin Tennyson (born 6 August 1993) is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2012 to 2021. who challenged for the IBF super-featherweight title in 2018 and the IBO lightweight title in May 2021. At regional level he held the Commonwealth and European super-featherweight titles in 2018 and the British lightweight title from 2020 to May 2021.
Tennyson is a two-time super-featherweight Irish champion. In 2013, he became the youngest ever modern era Irish champion by defeating former champion Mickey Coveney by knockout (KO) in the second round in what was only his sixth professional contest at the now demolished old St. Kevins Hall.[1] In 2017, he won the title for the second time with a sixth-round technical knockout (TKO) over Dublin's former highly decorated amateur stand out Declan Geraghty at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, live on BoxNation.[2]
He became Celtic featherweight champion in 2015 by way of disqualification after his opponent, Kris Hughes of Scotland, continued to hold after having already been deducted three points in the fight for persistent holding while heavily behind on points. This contest was also a final eliminator for the British featherweight title.[3]
Tennyson challenged Ryan Walsh for the British featherweight title, losing by fifth-round TKO after having been dropped twice in the fight by body shots. This contest proved to be his last at featherweight having struggled to make the weight.[4]
After a fifth round TKO loss at Super-Featherweight to then IBF Champion, Tevin Farmer in 2018 (once again via body shots), it became apparent that Tennyson was still having to drain himself significantly to make weight and it was affecting his performances in the ring.[5] He made the smart decision to move up to Lightweight the next year. Since making the move, Tennyson had won six straight fights by knockout, including wins over the likes of Atif Shafiq, Craig Evans, Gavin Gwynne (against whom he won the vacant British Lightweight title), and previously unbeaten Josh O’Reilly,[6] before losing to unheralded Mexican Jovanni Straffon by 1st-round TKO.[7]
On December 4, 2020, Tennyson fought Josh O'Reilly, who was ranked #7 at lightweight by the WBA, in a world title eliminator. Tennyson won the fight easily via a first round TKO.[8]
In his next bout, Tennyson faced Jovanni Straffon. Tennyson started the fight aggressively but Straffon retaliated with a few power punches of his own. As the pair went toe-to-toe, Straffon had more success, landing the better shots and dropping Tennyson twice before the referee decided to wave the fight off and award him the victory.[9]
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | Loss | 28–4 | Jovanni Straffon | TKO | 1 (12), | 1 May 2021 | |||
| 31 | Win | 28–3 | Josh O'Reilly | TKO | 1 (12), | 4 Dec 2020 | |||
| 30 | Win | 27–3 | Gavin Gwynne | TKO | 6 (12), | 1 Aug 2020 | |||
| 29 | Win | 26–3 | Craig Evans | TKO | 11 (12), | 23 Nov 2019 | |||
| 28 | Win | 25–3 | Atif Shafiq | KO | 2 (10), | 31 Aug 2019 | |||
| 27 | Win | 24–3 | Brayan Mairena | TKO | 2 (6), | 18 May 2019 | |||
| 26 | Win | 23–3 | Garry Neale | KO | 2 (10), | 9 Feb 2019 | |||
| 25 | Loss | 22–3 | Tevin Farmer | TKO | 5 (12), | 20 Oct 2018 | |||
| 24 | Win | 22–2 | Martin Joseph Ward | TKO | 5 (12), | 5 May 2018 | |||
| 22 | Win | 21–2 | Arnoldo Solano | KO | 1 (8), | 3 Feb 2018 | |||
| 22 | Win | 20–2 | Darren Traynor | TKO | 3 (10), | 21 Oct 2017 | |||
| 21 | Win | 19–2 | Ryan Doyle | RTD | 6 (10), | 10 Jun 2017 | |||
| 20 | Win | 18–2 | Declan Geraghty | TKO | 6 (10), | 10 Mar 2017 | |||
| 19 | Win | 17–2 | Rafael Castillo | PTS | 4 | 5 Nov 2016 | |||
| 18 | Loss | 16–2 | Ryan Walsh | TKO | 5 (12), | 30 Apr 2016 | |||
| 17 | Win | 16–1 | Antonio Horvatic | TKO | 1 (6), | 6 Feb 2016 | |||
| 16 | Win | 15–1 | Sergejs Logins | TKO | 1 (6), | 14 Nov 2015 | |||
| 15 | Win | 14–1 | Giorgi Gachechiladze | TKO | 2 (8), | 17 Oct 2015 | |||
| 14 | Win | 13–1 | Krzysztof Rogowski | TKO | 3 (6), | 6 Jun 2015 | |||
| 13 | Win | 12–1 | Kris Hughes | DQ | 7 (10), | 28 Mar 2015 | |||
| 12 | Win | 11–1 | Simas Volosinas | TKO | 2 (6), | 7 Feb 2015 | |||
| 11 | Win | 10–1 | Ian Bailey | PTS | 8 | 10 May 2014 | |||
| 10 | Win | 9–1 | Ignac Kassai | TKO | 3 (4), | 18 Apr 2014 | |||
| 9 | Loss | 8–1 | Pavels Senkovs | TKO | 2 (6), | 19 Oct 2013 | |||
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Andrei Hramyka | TKO | 1 (6), | 28 Jun 2013 | |||
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | David Kanales | KO | 2 (6), | 24 May 2013 | |||
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Mickey Coveney | TKO | 2 (10), | 27 Apr 2013 | |||
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | David Kis | TKO | 1 (8), | 9 Mar 2013 | |||
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Mickey Coveney | PTS | 6 | 7 Dec 2012 | |||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Ignac Kassai | TKO | 1 (4), | 3 Nov 2012 | |||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Tibor Meszaros | TKO | 1 (4), | 13 Oct 2012 | |||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Fikret Remziev | TKO | 4 (4), | 8 Sep 2012 |