Ground Breaking Boxers

Robin Reid

As a result of constant bullying and racism, from the age of eight, a young Robin Reid took up the noble art of boxing. Born in Liverpool and raised in Runcorn, he was the only dual heritage child in both his junior and senior schools. The sport of boxing was to prove a great comfort to this isolated child. From this humble start, he began a journey of sporting greatness through both his amateur and professional boxing careers. From winning a bronze medal, at Light Middleweight division, at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona to winning his first professional contest, he would go onto win 42 of his 51 professional fights. This included, the World Boxing Council (WBC) World Super Middleweight title when he defeated Vicenzo Nardiello in Milan in October 1996. A title he would successfully defend on three occasions. He would further build upon this success by winning the vacant World Boxing Federation (WBF) Super Middleweight title against Mike Gormley in London, December 2000 and go onto successfully defend his title on a further five separate occasions. Indeed, from the year 2000 up to July 2002 all of his contests, six, were fought on the world title stage. In the summer of 2004, would be his final victory on the world stage, when he defeated Brian MaGee, in defence of his IBO Super Middleweight title in Belfast, in 2004. His record of world title victories, ELEVEN, places this Liverpool boxing great at the head of a long line of Liverpool boxing legends. Having hung up his gloves, he has committed himself to a life of raising awareness around the issues raised by bullying in society through knife crime. His interest in boxing has been sustained through his appointment to The Advisory Board of the World Boxing Organisation and acting as a judge in professional boxing bouts.