Oliver won a silver medal for England in the bantamweight division at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada.

He held onto the title for a year, defending it on three occasions with wins over Serge Poilblan, Vincenzo Belcastro and Fabrice Benichou.

[2] In May 1998 he sought to defend his title again with a bout against Sergey Devakov at Royal Albert Hall in London, which ended with Oliver suffering life-threatening injuries.

[4] Spencer's cutman, Eddie Carter, is credited for saving his life, by instructing the paramedics to sedate the boxer in order to minimise the damage.

[6] Oliver now works as a pundit for Sky Sports and Talksport, and runs a boxing school in Edgware, London.