Nicholas John Webb (born 23 September 1987) is a British professional boxer who has held the IBO International heavyweight title since March 2021. As an amateur, Webb competed in the men's super heavyweight event at the 2012 and 2013 English National Championships, respectively, where he was eliminated by Joe Joyce.
Early life
Nicholas John Webb was born on 23 September 1987 and grew up in a council house in Chertsey, Surrey, England, the eldest child raised by a single mother Wendy. He was born to an English mother and a Jamaican father, making him mixed-race, and has one brother, George, and one sister, Siobhan. Webb grew up in working class surroundings, and as a consequence of a fatherless household, Webb took on the role of 'the man of the house' from an early age. He spoke of such a single parent household having had a large impact in his youth, whilst describing it as the worst thing he experienced as a child: "I think not having a dad, just growing up, I sort of depended on myself always [...]". His grandfather was a bare-knuckle boxer, and was one of Webb's inspirations for joining Woking Amateur Boxing Club: "He was a boxer, he used to tell me his stories and then when he passed away after a few month or weeks I went down to my local boxing gym."
He attended Salesian School and Brooklands College in Surrey, respectively, and spoke of suffering racism at the hands of bullies as a student. From the age of thirteen, he threw the shot put and discus for Newham and Essex Beagles AC, and also played basketball and rugby. When Webb was growing up he enjoyed watching boxing, and spoke of admiring Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and David Haye.
Amateur career
Webb competed for Woking Amateur Boxing Club in a number of tournaments, and as such had reached the Under 10's Novice ABAs finals within a few fights, whilst securing the gold medal in 2012. He won the 2012 National Novices for under 20 bouts in Chicago, after which he had claimed a silver medal at the National Novices for under 20 bouts in 2013, losing to Alex Dickinson in the final. He held an amateur record of 27–5, of which 18 were via knockout, including a stoppage of DL Jones. Of his five losses, Webb stated that three of them were to Joe Joyce: "He's the best I fought; doesn't hit especially hard but throws so many. He's extremely fit and can ship tremendous punishment."
He lost to Joe Joyce (Enfield ABC) via a points-decision 38:25 in the preliminaries of the 2012 English National Championships in Feltham, London. He followed up his defeat by Joyce with a second placing at the 2013 English National Championships at the Rainton Meadows Arena in Houghton-le-Spring by progressing through the quarter-finals by way of walkover and followed by outpointing Osamuede Omoregie in semi-finals. Webb then advanced to the finals, though was narrowly outpointed by Anthony Richardson 3:2. Richardson forged into the lead in the first two rounds, but Webb closed the distance wherein Richardson was sent stumbling into the ropes and down for a count by a right-hand. The final bell came at exactly as Richardson was trapped in a corner for a standing eight count, and three of the five judges voted in Richardson's favour as the bout went to the scoresheets. At the 2013 Haringey Box Cup in Haringey, London, Webb was defeated by Niall Kennedy (Ireland) 3:2. His first major event of 2014 was a return to the English National Championships in Liverpool, England, where he stopped Ben Roberts, though his campaign ended in the semi-finals where he was stopped by Joe Joyce.