Luke Watkins (born 27 November 1989) is an English

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who held the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

cruiserweight title from 2017 to 2018.

Professional career

Watkins made his professional debut on 20 September 2014, scoring a fourth-round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

(TKO) victory over David Vicena at the

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. After compiling a record of 11–0 (7 KOs) he faced Robin Dupre for the vacant Commonwealth cruiserweight title on 7 October 2017 at the

York Hall The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure centre in Bethnal Green, London. The building opened in 1929 and it is most famous as an international boxing venue with the first nights o ...

in London. Watkins knocked his opponent down in round four before securing a sixth-round TKO to capture his first professional title. His first defence came two months later against Mike Stafford on 2 December at the

Leicester Arena The Leicester Arena (officially known as the Mattioli Arena due to sponsorship reasons) is a multi-purpose sports arena located in Leicester, England. The arena has a seating capacity for 3,000 spectators and its main tenants are the Leicester ...

. After encountering some difficulties in the first few rounds, Watkins began to take control midway through the fight, opening a cut below Stafford's eye in the sixth round. At the end of the seventh, Stafford's

corner Corner may refer to: People *Corner (surname) *House of Cornaro, a noble Venetian family (''Corner'' in Venetian dialect) Places * Corner, Alabama, a community in the United States *Corner Inlet, Victoria, Australia * Corner River, a tributary o ...

warned their man that they would call off the fight to save him from further punishment. Seeing no improvements from Stafford, his corner called a halt to the contest at the end of the eighth round, awarding Watkins a stoppage win by

corner retirement A corner retirement (also known as a corner stoppage) is a term in boxing used to describe a fight ending when a boxer refuses to continue or their corner team pulls them out during the rest period between rounds. This results in the referee sto ...

(RTD). His second defence came against WBA Continental Cruiserweight champion and 2016 Olympian,

Lawrence Okolie Lawrence Okolie (born 16 December 1992) is a British professional boxer. He has held world championships in two weight classes, including the World Boxing Council (WBC) bridgerweight title in 2024, and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) cruise ...

, on 6 June 2018 at

in London, with Okolie's WBA title also on the line. Watkins suffered two knockdowns in the third round, the second of which promoted referee Michael Alexander to call a halt to the contest, handing Watkins the first defeat of his career to lose his Commonwealth title by TKO. His next fight was against

Isaac Chamberlain Isaac Chamberlain (born 3 March 1994) is a British professional boxer. He held the British and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles from 2023 to 2024. Professional career Chamberlain made his professional debut in January 2015, defeating Moses M ...

– who also lost to Okolie in his previous fight – on 27 October 2018 at the

Copper Box Arena The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from Handball at the 2012 Summ ...

in London. After a hard-fought ten rounds, Watkins suffered his second defeat, losing via

points decision A points decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking. Unlike normal decisions where there are three judges who agree on which ...

(PTS). Referee Kieran McCann scored the bout 95–94 in favour of Chamberlain, with the defining factor being a late knockdown scored by Chamberlain in the final seconds of the tenth and final round.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Luke Watkins' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Luke Living people 1989 births English male boxers Sportspeople from Swindon Cruiserweight boxers Commonwealth Boxing Council champions 21st-century English sportsmen