From store worker to world champion in two days

James Stafford

Preparing for a world title fight in boxing requires a mixture of sports science, hard work in the gym, plenty of sparring, lots of road running, healthy eating, incredible discipline, military-like planning and, crucially, plenty of preparation time. Steve Robinson, a boxer from Cardiff, Wales, in the UK, didn’t have the luxury of almost any of the things in the above list when he got a world title shot in 1993. In fact, he was spending a large chunk of his time toiling away in a department store.

From stacking shelves to lifting a golden belt
Robinson was born in 1968 and was occasionally bullied as a child, often being on the receiving end of racial abuse. But when he took up boxing at a young age and learned to look after himself the bullying soon stopped. Robinson once told the Boxing bible, Ring Magazine, about the importance of boxing in his life: ‘Life wasn’t easy. I was from a one-parent family. I knuckled down and toughened up. I started at the boxing gym when I was nine and had my first amateur fight when I was ten years old . . . that kept me off the streets.’

He developed into an excellent fighter, but believes that being a black boxer in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s was an extra obstacle to success at times. Despite showing signs of promise as a teenager, Robinson quit boxing for several years. He also left school at an early age and struggled to find employment. He lacked direction and focus and there was a danger his life could have gone off the tracks.

One day a chance encounter was to set in motion a chain of events that would change Robinson’s life. He was visiting the employment office to look for work when he bumped into one of his old boxing coaches, Ronnie Rush. His ex-trainer was also looking for a job. Rush said to Robinson that he should box again and that he had a talent that, if utilised, could take him to the top of the world. The 19-year-old Robinson decided to take Rush’s advice and put the gloves back on. Pretty soon, Robinson was showing he had serious talent. After about 25 amateur fights, he turned professional in 1989.

The Cardiffian had a solid, if unremarkable start to his pro career. When fate intervened to transform his world, Robinson had won 13 of his professional fights, lost nine and drawn one. Nothing in his record suggested he would likely get near a world title fight. Furthermore, he had won nothing of note in his short amateur career. Glory did not seem a realistic destination on his sporting journey.

Then in 1993, there was to be a bout in Sunderland, England, for the World Featherweight title. The fighters were England’s John Davison and champion Ruben Palacios from Colombia. Robinson, at this time, was working in a department store, stacking shelves. He simply couldn’t earn enough money to live on just from fighting so needed to have a steady income while he trained. But two days before the big championship fight, Palacios failed a drug test and the World Boxing Organisation (WBO), who were organising the fight, stripped the Columbian of his title. This dramatic turn of events meant the promoters now ​​had to find someone at incredibly short notice willing to fight Davison.

As Davison was in peak condition and had spent months training for the contest, the WBO knew it would be incredibly difficult to find a suitable opponent who was both available and willing to suddenly step up and risk possible embarrassment due to not being ready. Unsurprisingly, several fighters turned down the opportunity. Eventually, the promoters got low enough down their long list to offer it to the relatively unknown Robinson. He jumped at the chance.

‘I had just finished off [some] pie and chips, and I got a call from my trainer,’ recalled Robinson years later. He said that Rush offered him a big fight and that he believed that he was fit enough, in good enough shape and, more importantly, talented enough to win it. That was enough for the Cardiff fighter and he grabbed his date with destiny with both hands.

Robinson admitted he was a little bit overweight when he accepted the offer and he had to do several hard runs over the next two days to lose two kilograms (6 lb) and make the featherweight class of 57 kilograms (126 lb). The challenger would run wearing multiple layers of clothing to ‘sweat’ the weight out and also had to cut back on his food intake. He only made the weight on the day of the contest. This, of course, made the size of the challenge facing him even bigger: he was now battling fatigue as well.

Wisely, Robinson refused to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the occasion, saying: ‘The pressure was always on him. It was never on me. I just felt I had nothing to lose.’

The fight was set for 12 rounds and, as an unknown challenger, Robinson would have to really impress the three judges to win it if he wasn’t able to knock Davison down.

It was a tense, close and sometimes brutal affair. Robinson’s ability, aggression and confidence shocked the home crowd, many of whom were no doubt expecting their hero Davison to easily dispatch an unknown boxer who had to hold down a part-time job to pay his bills. After 12 thrilling rounds, it went down to the scorecards. To the amazement of the boxing world, two of three judges gave it to Robinson. Unbelievably, he was WBO Featherweight Champion of the world and the first Welsh boxing world champion in a quarter of a century. It was one of the most dramatic (and quickest) turnarounds in sporting fortunes ever seen.

Proving it wasn’t a fluke
While people loved the tale of the sleeping underdog waking up suddenly to conquer the world, many assumed the result was a freak occurrence and that Robinson would quickly fade back into obscurity. The champ proved them all wrong, defending his title seven times over two and a half years – several times against former champions – before losing it to one of the weight division’s greatest champions: Naseem Hamed.

Robinson proved a worthy champion. He retired from fighting in 2002 and today runs a boxing gym, manages his son (who also boxes as a professional and has won a national title), and has an interest in helping young people from difficult backgrounds develop through sport. He is a great example of why you should always work hard at what you do, because you never know when opportunity will come knocking.

Steve Robinson’s story is taken from ‘Unbelievable Underdogs and Rebellious Role Models’.

‘Unbelievable Underdogs and Rebellious Role Models’ is out now priced – Paperback (£12.99) Kindle (£9.99)