Robin Reid: Grim Reaper of Runcorn

[BoztheMadman]

Coming at the end of the golden age of British super middleweights, Robin Reid's career was promising at first. He looked like he was capable of becoming the next great British super middle, after the end of Nigel Benn's career and Chris Eubank's downward slope in the late 90's. However, despite winning a world title, he surprisingly lost it and his career never recovered and the next great Brit instead turned out to be his rival, Joe Calzaghe. Robin Reid was a talented fighter with an aggressive, never say die attitude. Despite standing only 5'9, he was a formidable opponent for anyone at his best.

 

Robin was born 19 February 1971 in Sefton, Merseyside and grew up in Runcorn, Cheshire. He had a really extensive amateur career and won the 1992 Olympics light middle bronze medal and a 1989 World Championships silver medal. His record is 51-16. He turned pro just after his 22nd birthday, 27 February 1993. He was trained by Bryan Hughes and promoted by Frank Warren. He won his first 5 fights, 2 by TKO, before drawing against Danny Juma in a 6-rounder at the end of the year. He then scored 8 straight ko's before beating Juma in a rematch by PTS8. After running his record to 21-0-1, he finally got a chance to win the WBC title in 1996. It was 12 October at the Forum in Milan, Italy, when Reid became the third British super middle world champion by stopping the home favorite Vincenzo Nardiello by TKO7. He made his first defense at home in Millwall and beat the 22-0-1 Giovanni Pretorious of South Africa by KO7, dropping him twice before the ko. He then defended against the very solid Henry Wharton, who was always the third best British super middle behind Benn and Eubank in the early to mid 90's. The fight was at Nynex Arena in Manchester, 3 May '97, and Reid won by a majority decision in a busy fight with lots of exchanges. Wharton would retire a year later. On 11 September he made his third successful defense in a tough fight against Hacine Cherifi of France, winning by a split decision. However, the judge that gave Cherifi the fight was pretty off, as the other two judges scored it clearly for Reid. And then, it all came to a sudden halt when Reid faced the very tricky Thulani "Sugar Boy" Malinga, 19 December that year and lost to him in a close fight, but only one judge had it close. However, compubox stats showed that despite throwing 65 punches less, Reid actually landed 98 punches to Malinga's 96. Still, that didn't matter. He was no longer the champion and after 26 fights tasted defeat for the first time as a pro.

 

He went back on track by stopping Graham Townsend by TKO6 before fighting for the WBO title against Joe Calzaghe, 13 February '99 at Telewest Arena in Newcastle. It was an extremely rough and dirty fight and both guys used a lot of dirty tricks such as grabbing and holding and wrestling. Reid got one point deducted for a low blow but stung Calzaghe in the 9th with a right to the head. In round 11 they went toe-to-toe and both gave as good as they got. It was Calzaghe's first tough defense and a real test. In the end, two judges favored the champion by 116-111 while the third scored it for Reid by the same score. Although maybe he didn't deserve to win, he gave Calzaghe his first true war. He took a year off and then returned fighting Silvio Branco for his WBU title, 24 June 2000 at the Hampden Park in Glasgow. Reid put Branco down in the 12th and last round but still lost clearly on all scorecards. In December that year, he beat Mike Gormley by TKO1 to win the minor WBF title. He made 5 defenses of the title, most notably stopping Soon Botes by TKO4 and beating Francisco Antonio Mora by UD12. He vacated the title in late 2002. He then went for the WBA and IBF titles and fought their holder, Sven Ottke of Germany, in Nuremberg on 13 December '03. Reid became a victim of biased refereeing and judging, like some others who have faced Ottke before him. He scored a knockdown in round 6 but it was ruled a slip. Referee then took a point from Reid for an alledged headbutt. Reid was even warned when he was landing clean shots on Ottke. In the end, he lost by a controversial unanimous decision. After this sour experience, he would never fight in Germany again. He won his last title, the IBO one, by beating Brian Magee of Northern Ireland, then 22-0, in June 2004. He put Magee down four times before winning by a rather close UD. The fight was at Kings Hall in Belfast. He then landed what turned out to be his last true world title fight, against Jeff Lacy, who was now the IBF champion after Ottke's retirement. Reid put his IBO belt on the line as well when they fought on 6 August 2005 at St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. It was Lacy's home state and he was a heavy favorite, being younger by 6 years and a ko artist. Reid held his own until round 5, when he was dropped for the first time in his career. He also lost a point for a headbutt in that round and the seventh. He was down again in rounds 6 and 7 before retiring in his corner after the 7th.

 

After nearly two years absence, he came back in March 2007 and decisioned Jesse Brinkley in 8 rounds, in what was a part of "The Contender", the tv-show tournament. On 9 November that year, he fought the new rising contender Carl Froch in Froch's hometown of Nottingham. He gave away 4 inches in height to Froch, despite having an inch longer reach. After trading well in the first 3 rounds, at the end of the third he was hit with a glancing blow while crouching and put down. He stung Froch with a leaping right hook in the fourth but was unable to follow it up. He also ended the round strongly and had Froch against the ropes. In the fifth, he took a knee with around 30 seconds remaining, following a Froch hard right. He got up and made it out of the round but going back to his corner he said he could go on for one more round. His corner then stopped it. He announced his retirement but came back one more time in 2011. He took part in the Prizefighter tournament and went out in the first round, losing on points to Tobias Webb. He then stopped two journeymen by TKO before fighting Kenny Anderson, then a rather solid contender from Scotland, who had a big punch. The fight was 20 October 2012 at the Sheffield Arena and once again, after doing rather well, he was put down in round 5 and stopped, this time before the end of the round. He finally hung up his gloves after that, aged 41. His record is 42 wins, 29 by ko, 8 losses and 1 draw.

 

After his first retirement, Reid turned to acting and appeared in the 2010 action-horror "Killer Bitch". Same year he also appeared in "Risen", a movie about Howard Winstone's life and career, and later "Mob Handed" from 2016. He now works as a boxing judge. Robin Reid was an action fighter, a pressure fighter, no doubt. Although he had a somewhat dirty and rough fighting style, he was a crowd pleaser and never backed from a good old brawl. He hit hard and could take a good punch as well, attested in the fact that against both Lacy and Froch he retired rather than being actually knocked out. His career has however been marred with close calls and that controversial loss to Ottke. Against both Calzaghe and Malinga, he had very close fights and after losing to Branco, his career got sidetracked. I hope you enjoyed this presentation.