Ike Weir (February 5, 1867 – September 12, 1908) was an Irish boxer, credited with being the first man to take the Featherweight Championship of the World in a match against Frank Murphy on March 31, 1889, in Kouts, Indiana.

He was recognized by most sources to have lost the title on January 13, 1890, to Torpedo Billy Murphy in a fourteenth-round knockout in San Francisco, California.

Beginning work as a cross country jockey in Preston, England before taking up boxing, he had a fondness for horses from an early age.

[3] On October 5, 1885, he entered an amateur boxing contest in Manchester, England, where he defeated Stewart of Bradford, and Bill Palon, before being beaten by Joe Fielden who was thirty pounds heavier than Weir.

[6][7] Having difficulty finding bouts in England, at the age of nineteen, he arrived in Boston on March 10, 1886, and won a three-round contest with Willie Snee.

[7] In his next American battle in Boston on October 29, 1886, he put James Furman on the canvas in a surprising fifth-round technical knockout which allowed him to be matched with better known boxer Martin Burns on November fifth of the following week.

[2] On January 24, 1887, Weir won a seventh-round knockout against Jack Farrell in Ridgefield, New Jersey, near Hoboken, that was billed as a World 124 pound Title match, though it was not subsequently recognized as such.

[7][10] On April 30, 1887, Weir defeated Willie Clarke in a twenty-round bout lasting one hour twenty-three minutes in Long Island Sound in Queens, New York.

[11] According to one source, several of his earliest bouts had as few as twenty in attendance due to the legal issues associated with boxing at the time, and a single ticket could get a price as high as $100.

[12] On July 20, 1887, Weir fought an unusually long sixty-one-round match outdoors against Jack Havlin of Providence, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

The fight, described as "one of the hardest battles Weir ever took part in", began around 9:30 PM, and lasted much of the night before ending around 3:00 AM in an official draw.

Weir successfully used his clever ducking and bobbing as a defense in the fight, avoiding Murphy's powerful right which had plagued him in their earlier title bout.

[23] After his victory over boxer "Kentucky Rosebud" in early 1891, Weir returned for a time to cross country horse racing, participating in several events in New England, and becoming known as a jockey in Boston.

[3] On May 30, 1892, at Sunnyside Park in Nantucket, Massachusetts, he rode Dictum to three first-place finishes in three heats, one of his greatest feats as a jockey.

Weir danced the Highland Fling and Irish jig during the match, which annoyed his opponent but greatly pleased the crowd.

According to one source, "The fight was fiercely fought for twelve rounds, when Ike had punished his opponent so badly that he went to sleep for thirty-two seconds, and the "Spider" won.

[25] On April 19, 1893, he fought a hard ten round draw against Tommy White at the Hennepin Athletic Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

At the end of ten rounds, unlike in many of Weir's longer fights, both fighters were fresh and uninjured, and the referee declared a draw.

[26] On March 17, 1894, Weir was outclassed in a bout with Arthur Griffiths, known as "Young Griffo," at the Second Regiment Armory in Chicago.

[27] According to the Inter Ocean, as many as five thousand were in attendance to watch "three of the fastest, fiercest and most brutal rounds ever fought in an American prize ring".

One reporter noted that Young Griffo made a "veritable chopping block of Ike O'Neil Weir, the "Belfast Spider"".

[28] It is important to note that according to one source, Griffo may have outweighed Wier by as much as thirty pounds during the bout, though discrepancies in the weights of opponents was more common in this era of boxing.

[7] His tenth-round knockout at the hands of Mike Sears at the Hoffman Club in Lynne, Massachusetts on March 17, 1898 was his last official bout and ended his boxing career.