One British boxing's most colourful characters could soon have
to say goodbye to his time in the ring.
Crawley journeyman "Rockin" Robin Deakin may have only won once
in his fifty paid contests but he's always provided good value and
has even given a few touted prospects a scare.
However, it looks like the likeable 26-year-old will be forced
to hang up his gloves because the British Boxing Board of Control
(BBBofC) have withdrawn his licence.
"I'm appealing it and I've got my solicitor on it. Hopefully it
goes my way," Deakin told Hatton Boxing.
"I was due to fight but I turned it down because I'd been
training in Manchester with Michael [Jennings], working on basics
and going back to scratch and I got an email from Les Potts [South
Area Council secretary] saying my licence had been suspended for
health safety reasons.
"I phoned Les up and said 'what's all this about?' and he said
it's for my own good but I give the people what they want to
see."
Unlike when many people lose their licence, Deakin has not
failed a medical or brain scan. The board's decision appears to
have come just because of the amount of punches he takes in his
fights.
"People look at my record and see I've only won one but people
like Ryan Clark and Kristian Laight are in the same league as me
and they haven't had their licences taken away. They get hit as
much as I do," Robin said.
"I used to fight twice a month and I had something like 36
fights in two years. They were all against good kids, up and coming
fighters who will turn out to be the best in country.
"I think I'm one of the most entertaining journeymen. There's
all these guys who take fights and just go through the motions
because they want to survive to fight again and that's boring.
"When people watch me they go away talking about how good a
fight it was. My fight with Ryan Taylor was a war and I think it
was one of the best undercard fights of the year."
The disappointment has he is currently feeling is intensified
every time he hears about a new person gaining a professional
licence.
Indeed, Deakin believes that experienced boxers are being pushed
out while relative novices are being licensed after moving over
from the so-called 'unlicensed' circuit.
He said: "In the ABAs I boxed people like Gary Sykes and built
up experience but now they're giving licences to people who've only
had one unlicensed fight, it's ridiculous and boxing is going
downhill.
"They're getting rid of the best and most entertaining
journeymen and giving licences to these guys."
But it seems that Deakin will soon have bigger fish to fry
anyway as he's expected to star in the upcoming reality TV Surrey
Heights, although at this stage he's keeping stum on that project
and is keen to get back to his boxing.
"I've got a lot of TV work at the minute with ITV2 and couple of
other networks but I want to box," he said.
"I've had to fight all my life and boxing has helped me through
things. If I didn't box I don't know where I'd be today. It's
helped me with my health.
"I was born with my feet the wrong way around and the doctors
said I would never walk. Who knows, if it wasn't for boxing I might
have been back in a wheelchair by now."
He added: "If I get my licence back things will be changing. I
always get a lot of distractions because my family is like
Eastenders and there's always dramas, but I'm going to get away
from all that and just focus on boxing."
13/08/2012 22:53:16