The Grim Reaper
Robin Reid
Born in Sefton, Merseyside on 19th February 1971, Robin Reid had an amateur record of 51-16. He got into boxing mainly because of his foster dad, who was a massive fight fan and they watched the likes of Thomas Hearns and 'Sugar' Ray Leonard together on television.
Reid's biological father was Jamaican and during his school years he was subjected to bullying and racism. He admits that he was a bit of a loner and first walked through the doors of a boxing gym as an eight-year-old. It was here that he found the clothes that he wore and the colour of his skin didn't matter. He was treated as an equal and welcomed into this new circle with open arms.
He didn't have aspirations to become a world champion, but with hard work and dedication he wound up boxing for England. In 1992 he captured first place in the Canada Cup as a light-middleweight and represented Team GB at the Barcelona Olympics, securing a Bronze Medal.
He turned professional as a middleweight in February 1993, stopping Mark Lee Dawson in the very first round. He amassed a record of 21-0-1 (16 KO's) in his first three years as a pro and his right hand had developed a fierce reputation.
Reid was now twenty-five and was looking forward to getting his first title fight. His sights were set on an area title or one of the main domestic crowns. His promoter, Frank Warren, gave him some surprising news. He secured him a shot at the new WBC super-middleweight champion Vincenzo Nardiello.
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| Beat Vincenzo Nardiello in the 7th to claim WBC title |
Reid vs Nardiello took place in Milan, Italy, the home country of the champion in October 1996. Reid was seen as the inexperienced novice, but his amateur experience on the world stage would help him cope with some of the pressure.
The challenger was in devastating form as he ripped the title from the defending champion in the seventh round. The new champion took the success in his stride, keeping his feet firmly on the ground, despite his glamorous image and model good looks.
He made his first defence of the WBC super-middleweight title against the South African Giovanni Pretorious, sharing the event with WBO counterpart Steve Collins, who stopped Frederic Seillier in the fifth round and 'Prince' Naseem Hamed adding Tom 'Boom Boom' Johnson's IBF featherweight title to his WBO belt.
Pretorious was an aggressive challenger, who stood toe-to-toe with Reid. The champion kept his crown with a seventh round knockout. The result was an exciting one for the fans, but the champion and his trainer, Brian Hughes, weren't too happy about getting drawn into a dogfight. "The reception I got was unbelievable. For the first time I was part of the main bill, a world champion," said Reid at a later date.
Next up to challenge him was Leeds powerhouse Henry Wharton. The challenger had failed in two
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| Outpointing top challenger Henry Wharton |
The Yorkshire man with the big left hook regrouped by stopping former WBC super-middleweight champion Mauro Galvano in the fourth round in July 1995 to capture the vacant EBU title. He defended the belt again by the end of 1995 and stopped another ex WBC king Nardiello in the sixth round at the start of 1996.
Wharton crammed in another two fights by the time the year was out before challenging Reid in May 1997. The champion really showed his class that night, even turning southpaw on occasions to outpoint his tough challenger.
In September that year he took on the Frenchman Hacine Cherifi and had to go the full twelve rounds again to beat his opponent on a split decision. On the same event a certain Ricky Hatton, who would go on to win world titles at light-welterweight and welterweight, made his professional debut.
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| Losing out to 'Sugar Boy' Malinga |
Malinga proved to be a tough egg to crack as he regained his WBC belt with a 117-113, 117-112 and 115-114 unanimous decision. Reid dropped to 25-1-1 (18 KO's) and got back to winning ways in April 1998, stopping Graham Townsend in the sixth round.
He didn't box again until February 1999, where he challenged Joe Calzaghe for the WBO super-middleweight championship. Welshman Calzaghe had a wonderful amateur resume, winning the ABA welterweight title in 1991, the ABA light-middleweight championship in 1992 and the middleweight ABA crown in 1993. He finished his unpaid career as 110-10 and turned pro in October 1993.
Calzaghe took on Chris Eubank for the vacant WBO super-middleweight title in October 1997, outpointing the former champion by unanimous decision. The title was made vacant when holder Steve Collins decided to retire rather than face the top rated Welshman.
Against Reid, the champion was making the third defence of his belt. The challenger was pumped up, shouting "Come on!" as he entered the ring. After a ferocious battle the contest was decided by the judges. One judge gave it to Reid by sores of 116-111, even with a point deducted for a low blow. The other two judges favoured the champion by two cards also reading 116-111. Calzaghe never granted a return. "I was also a bit annoyed, not because of the decision, but because the rematch never happened," said Reid at a later date.
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| Nailing WBO champ Joe Calzaghe, who never gave Reid a rematch |
Reid, who resides in Runcorn, Cheshire, didn't box again until June 2000. He challenged Silvio Branco for the Italian's World Boxing Union super-middleweight title. Branco, who won the vacant championship in the April by outpointing Glen Johnson, won a unanimous decision over Reid in Glasgow.
The former WBC champion then fought for another vacant championship in the guise of the World Boxing Federation super-middleweight title. He stopped Mike Gormley in the opening round and made five successful defences, the biggest name he came against was the former two-time holder of the WBA light-middleweight title, Julio Cesar Vasquez, who took him the full twelve rounds.
In December 2003, Reid travelled to the Nuremberg Arena in Germany to challenge local hero Sven Ottke for the WBA and IBF super-middleweight titles. The German had been the IBF champion since October 1998 after beating holder Charles Brewer on a split decision. In March 2003 he added Byron Mitchell's WBA strap to his collection and against Reid, he was making the twentieth defence of the IBF belt and the third defence of his WBA title.
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| Getting a raw deal in Germany against Sven Ottke |
The referee was widely criticised after the bout for his biased performance for Ottke, who only boxed out of his native Germany once and that was in neighbouring Austria. The unanimous decision in favour of the champion, 117-112 and two lots of 115-113 was also highly controversial. "I lost faith in the sport after that. I was fighting for two respected versions of the title, and I felt like I didn't get a fair crack of the whip. Decisions like that are not only bad for the boxer but for the sport in general."
In June 2004, Reid took the International Boxing Organisation super-middleweight championship by outpointing the unbeaten Northern Irishman Brian Magee in Belfast. With a non title bout under his belt in February 2005, he travelled to Tampa, Florida to challenge IBF super-middleweight champion Jeff Lacey in the August.
At twenty-eight, Lacey was six years younger than his IBO counterpart and unbeaten in nineteen, with fifteen kayos. Lacey won the vacant title by TKO-ing the Canadian Syd Vanderpool in the eighth round and was making the third defence against Reid.
In round five the American did something no other boxer in forty-five contest could do - he dropped Reid. The Liverpudlian was on the canvas again before the round was finished. The big hitting champion also felled the Brit in rounds six and seven, with Reid retiring at the end of the seventh on advice from his corner.
The Runcorn man stayed out of the ring until the end of March 2007, where he got the opportunity to take part in 'The Contender USA vs UK' and outpointed Jesse Brinkley over eight rounds. The confident performance got him a crack at Carl Froch's British super-middleweight title in November 2007.
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| Losing out to Carl Froch |
The champion, who was six-years younger than his thirty-six-year-old challenger, retained his championship with Reid retiring in his corner after the fifth round. "He caught me with a big right hand in the fourth. I was clear in my head, it's just my legs went! I went down and took the count and Brian stopped it. I could have carried on, but I guess Brian knew best," explained Reid.
Reid stayed out of the ring until February 2011, winning three of his final five fights. His last performance came on 20th October 2012, where he was unsuccessful in a British title challenge to Kenny Anderson for the vacant super-middleweight title. Reid lost by a fifth round TKO and the forty-one-year-old bowed of boxing with an impressive record of 42-8-1 with twenty-nine stoppages.
All the best fight fans
Lea
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