Professional Career
Bell lost his second fight against an Algerian amateur star (M.Benguesima) but kept winning for years after that. He defeated former IBF champion Arthur Williams twice by KO and climbed the rankings.
He defeated Canadian Dale Brown in a controversial but unanimous decision on May 20, 2005 on Friday Night Fights to capture the vacant IBF title.
He unified the belts by beating Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck, on January 7, 2006, for his WBA and WBC belts making Bell the second undisputed champion of the division, with Evander Holyfield being the first.
The IBF later stripped Bell in April 2006 for pulling out of a mandatory bout against Steve Cunningham because of a tooth problem. After nearly 11 months of inactivity, Bell was due to take part in the postponed Superfighter Tournament at heavyweight on December 1 of that year.
Bell lost the WBA and WBC belts to Jean-Marc Mormeck on March 17, 2007 in the Frenchman's backyard in Levallois, France via a close but unanimous decision.
On April 19, 2008, in Poland, Bell fought former WBC light heavyweight champion Tomasz Adamek. Bell was dropped in the first round and quit after the end of round seven, citing that he was feeling dizzy and sick.
After the Adamek fight, Bell announced his move to the heavyweight division, saying that making the cruiserweight limit sapped his strength for his last two fights. Bell's first heavyweight bout was scheduled to be against Willie Palms on January 14, 2009, but that fight never occurred, and the Adamek loss remains Bell's last fight as of early 2010.
Read more about this topic: O'Neil Bell
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