Steve Robinson (born 13 December 1968, in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

) is a Welsh retired professional boxer. He is best known for working in

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...

as a storeman in Cardiff, then with just two days' notice, he accepted the fight against John Davison in 1993 for the vacant

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

Featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, th ...

title and won the contest on a points decision. He was trained by the late boxing coach, Ronnie Rush.

Professional career

On 17 April 1993 the defending Featherweight Champion, Ruben Palacios from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

, was due to defend his title in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, England against John Davison from England. However, the champion failed a HIV test by the

BBBC The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom. History The British Boxing Board of Control was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Card ...

prior to the bout and was immediately stripped of his title by the WBO. With only two days to go before the bout, the promoters had to find another opponent to face Davison. Steve Robinson accepted the chance to fight for the WBO crown. Robinson won the bout by a points decision against all the odds. He was the new WBO World Featherweight Champion. He was a worthy champion with 7 successful defences of his title. On 30 September 1995 he defended his title for the last time, against ''Prince''

Naseem Hamed Naseem Hamed (born 12 February 1974), nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002.. Retrieved 25 February 2016. He held multiple featherweight world championships, including the WBO ti ...

from

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

, England. Hamed dominated the fight and Steve Robinson was knocked out in the eighth round. He challenged for the European featherweight title on 3 February 1997, against the holder

Billy Hardy Billy Hardy (born 5 September 1964 in Sunderland) is a former bantamweight and featherweight boxer champion. He held the British championship at bantamweight and featherweight, as well as the European and Commonwealth featherweight titles. Th ...

, but was beaten on points. He challenged for the European title, against John Jo Irwin on 4 December 1999 and won the bout on a points decision, and became the new

European Boxing Union The European Boxing Union (EBU), formerly known as the International Boxing Union (IBU), is a pan-European governing body that sanctions championship bouts in professional boxing. The EBU governs the most-prestigious continental title in Europe, th ...

Featherweight Champion. However, 6 months later on 23 June 2000, he lost his title to István Kovács from

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. He challenged for the European featherweight title again on 25 May 2001, but ended in defeat over 12 rounds against Manuel Calvo from Spain. Further defeats followed and Steve Robinson had decided to retire after his sixth loss in a row. He made his announcement after his points defeat to Steve Conway on 27 April 2002. He said after the bout, "I don't want to end it this way but there you are – it's happened. I've seen the great heights and I've some fantastic memories but I've beaten better men than Steve Conway and I just think it's time to call it a day."

In retirement

On 1 February 2006, Robinson started ''Train Station 2'', a "White Collar Boxing" fitness centre in Cardiff. He now runs Steve Robinson's Boxing Gym in his home town of Cardiff where he hopes to train a world champion. In September 2020, Robinson announced that he had joined the Welsh National Party.

References

External links

Steve Robinson on www.johnnyowen.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Steve 1968 births Living people Welsh male boxers Featherweight boxers World featherweight boxing champions World Boxing Organization champions Boxers from Cardiff