1972: Born March 23, Acton.

1993: Wins his third consecutive ABA title at a different weight, the first boxer to do so in 65 years.

1993: Signs professional forms with Mickey Duff and makes his debut on the Lennox Lewis-Frank Bruno undercard at Cardiff Arms Park, stopping Paul Hanlon in round one.

1995: After nine straight wins, is awarded the prestigious Young Boxer of the Year award by the British Boxing Writers' Association.

1995: Wins the British super-middleweight title in his 14th fight, stopping Steve Wilson in the eighth round in Kensington.

1996: Leaves Duff to sign a promotional deal with Frank Warren.

1997: Beats Chris Eubank on points, to claim the vacant WBO super-middleweight title, having knocked Eubank down in the first round.

1999: Scrapes a split decision victory over British rival Robin Reid in Newcastle despite damaging his hand early in the fight.

2000: Boosts his reputation over the Atlantic with a comprehensive fifth-round victory over highly-rated American Omar Sheika.

2003: Knocked down for the first time in his career by Byron Mitchell, but gets up to stop his opponent in the following round.

2004: Floored again in a gruelling defence against Egyptian spoiler Kabary Salem, before winning via a large points verdict.

2005: Hopes of a unification showdown against Jeff Lacy appear dashed when he breaks his hand during a routine win over Evans Ashira.

2006: March - Beats IBF champion Lacy on points in their rearranged clash in March, with a performance rated by many as one of the greatest ever by a British fighter.

2006: May - Is forced to pull out of of a prospective July clash with Glen Johnson due to a recurrence of his hand injury.

2006: Oct - Wins a dirty brawl with Cameroon's Sakio Bika in a record-equalling 19th world title defence.

2006: Nov - Forced to relinquish the IBF portion of his title after agreeing a March 2007 defence against American 'Contender' Peter Manfredo.

2006: Dec - Short-listed for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, losing out to Zara Phillips.

2007: April 7 - Stops Manfredo in three rounds in front of 35,000 fans at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

November 4 - Wins by unanimous decision against Mikel Kessler to become the first unified super-middleweight champion, bringing together the WBO, WBA and WBC titles.

December 7 - Engaged in a fiery nose-to-nose slanging match with projected future opponent Bernard Hopkins in front of the world's media as the rivals came together in Las Vegas ahead of the Ricky Hatton v Floyd Mayweather super-fight.

December 9 - Named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, beating Formula One star Lewis Hamilton and Hatton.

2008: April 20 - Earns a split decision victory over Hopkins in a 12-round epic at the at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

June 14 - Awarded the CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

November 8: Beats legendary American Roy Jones Jr via comfortable unanimous decision in their light-heavyweight fight at Madison Square Garden, recovering from a first-round knockdown to dominate.

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