Bernard Paul (boxer) middleweight. Bernard Paul (boxer) Bernard "Punching Postman" Paul (born October 22, 1965) is a Mauritian/British professional light welter/welter/light middleweight boxer of the 1990s and 2000s who won the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) Southern (England) Area light welterweight title, and Commonwealth light welterweight title, and was a challenger for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Inter-Continental light welterweight title against Jon Thaxton, British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) British light welterweight title against Mark Winters, and World Boxing Organization (WBO) Inter-Continental light welterweight title against Ricky Hatton, his professional fighting weight varied from , i.e. light welterweight to , i.e.
World Boxing Organization champions Michael Moorer, Riddick Bowe, and Henry Akinwande relinquishing the title to pursue other options. Boxing publication "The Ring" also did not recognize the WBO, despite having recognized the IBF after its inception in 1983, five years prior to the WBO. In the lighter weight divisions, however, long-reigning champions during the 1990s such as Chris Eubank, Dariusz Michalczewski, Johnny Tapia, and Naseem Hamed gave the WBO title increasingly more prestige. The WBO was also made popular by boxers such as Marco Antonio Barrera, Oscar De La Hoya, Nigel Benn, Ronald "Winky" Wright, Joe Calzaghe, and Wladimir Klitschko, all of whom