Adrian Diaconu laced up the gloves for the first time in his home country of Romania in 1987 at the tender age of 9, and he has never looked back since. He compiled a tremendous amateur record of 218-27, earning a silver medal at the 1999 world championships in Houston by beating Cuba’s two-time Olympic gold medal winner Ariel Hernandez; winning bronze medals at the 1996 and 1997 world championships in Havana, Cuba and Budapest, Hungary, respectively; and capturing four gold medals at tournaments in Belgrade (1996), Czech Republic (1988), Romania (1998) and Liverpool (1996).
He represented Romania at the Sydney Olympics of 2000, and fell just one match short of earning the bronze medal, losing to eventual gold medal winner Jorge Gutierrez, from Cuba.
Diaconu (pronounced Di-ah-kowe-new), turned professional in Montreal at age 22 on March 2, 2001, where he scored a first-round technical knockout over fellow newcomer Mark Newton.
Diaconu disposed of his first 12 opponents—eight of whom sported winning records —before running into Tiwon Taylor (24-9-1) in Montreal on Nov. 22, 2003. The bout turned into a street brawl and marked the first time in his pro career that Diaconu had been hit with a solid punch to the face. This only served to infuriate The Shark, who promptly knocked out Taylor in the second round.
Fighting for the first time as a professional in his home country of Romania on April 21, 2005, Diaconu delighted fans with a first-round TKO over James Crawford (40-9-2), who had managed to go the distance with former World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Eric Lucas just one month earlier.
Diaconu won the vacant Canadian light heavyweight title by scoring a fifth-round technical knockout against an overmatched Canadian by the name of Conal MacPhee (11-1) on June 3, 2005. In an immediate rematch, Diaconu scored a second-round technical knockout over MacPhee, which led the boxer to give up the sport. Both matches took place in Montreal.
The Shark continued to gain notoriety by adding the WBC international, the Trans American Boxing and North American Boxing Federation light heavyweight titles in this next two bouts, both of which took place in Montreal.
Darrin Humphrey (21-4) took on Diaconu on Dec. 2, 2005, but proved to be no match, repeatedly taking a knee during the fight and running from Diaconu’s punches. Humphrey seemed happy just to get to round 11 of the fight before the referee halted the domination.
Diaconu knocked out Max Heyman (21-7-4) in the fourth round on March 24, 2006, in another one-sided affair. Diaconu started fast and finished early, clearly outclassing his opponent and landing hard, crisp punches for which Heyman had no counter.
South African Andre Thysse (19-6) gained some consolation by breaking Diaconu’s six-fight knockout streak by going the distance after being knocked down by Diaconu for the first time in his career—amateur or pro—during the first round of their match in Montreal on May 16, 2006. Thysse lost by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision.
Diaconu vacated his Canadian title to face Rico Hoye (20-1) in a WBC elimination bout to determine the No. 1 mandatory challenger to reigning WBC champion Chad Dawson.
In what was probably the biggest test of his career on May 9, 2007, in a televised main event on ESPN’s Wednesday Night Fights, Diaconu dominated Hoye until the referee halted the action in the third round, leaving Diaconu the winner by TKO.
Diaconu is trained by Stephan Larouche and Pierre Bouchard.
ADRIAN “THE SHARK” DIACONU
Undefeated World Boxing Council No. 1-Ranked Mandatory Challenger
And WBC International Light Heavyweight Champion
Born on June 9, 1978, in Ploesti-Prahova, Romania, now residing in Montreal, Canada
Height 5’ 9” – Weight: Light Heavyweight (175)
Record: 24-0, 15 KOs