Fighting out of Redditch, Andrew Robinson was 27 years of age when on 22 June 2012, under the bright lights of the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton, he made his pro career debut.
He fought Walsall’s 31 year old middleweight southpaw, Bobby Wood who was by that time a very seasoned fighter, making his 22nd professional appearance. The fight was scheduled for six rounds at light heavyweight and it went all the way with Robinson eventually winning the contest on points.
His next outing took him to Birmingham where he was up against another southpaw and elder man but this time one making his debut, Vaclav Skromach. And this time at Super Middleweight.
Robinson stopped Skromach in the final round of their bristling four round encounter. He stayed at super middleweight for his next three bouts and followed his win over Skromach with a run of eye-catching victories against Dan Phelps (pts), John Mason (first round stoppage), and Kiril Psonko (pts) before heading to Dudley where he carved out a points win against Jody Meikle at the light heavyweight class.
Back at supermiddleweight for his next fight six fights Robinson beat Gilson De Jesus (pts). Kieron Gray (pts), Mark Till (pts), Luke Allon (5th round stoppage), Harry Matthews (pts), and Dan Blackwell (pts) before again switching to light heavyweight to stop Elvis Dube in the final round of their six round contest and stretch his unbeaten run to what was now, over two years long.
Robinson’s impressive win streak set him up nicely for his first Title challenge, a Box Nation televised clash for the vacant WBO European Super Middleweight title at London’s Excel Arena against the big hitting and undefeated, Frank Buglioni.
Despite an impressive and determined showing, and catching Buglioni with good shots in the first, fourth, ninth and tenth rounds particularly, Robinson, having been dropped at the end of the seventh and troubled again in the eighth, suffered his first defeat.
Robinson, also known since his amateur boxing days as ‘D’Animal’ bounced back with a points win at Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall over Christian Hoskin Gomez, which set him up nicely for his next fight, a Title clash for the Midlands Area Super Middleweight Title against Prince Davis.
The Redditch fighter came out on top, stopping Davis in the 9th round and then went on to win his next three fights before hitting a poor run where he lost in a split decision against Sam Sheedy and then by unanimous decision to Lee Markham. But quickly getting back on track he gained a draw when he fought Yorkshire’s Adam Jones and then in his following two fights, grabbed two more points wins over Josef Obeslo and the highly active and experienced Sussex born super middleweight, Lewis van Poetsch.
This led to his dream opportunity and a chance to fight at the Genting Arena on the Now or Never fight card where he co-headlined the night in his bout against the tough and highly rated middleweight southpaw, Brighton’s Nicky Jenman.
In the days leading up to the fight BCB Promotions ran a poll on social media giving fight fans an opportunity to predict the outcome. Of those cast, 67% of the vote went in favour of a KO win for Robinson.
On the night the fight itself didn’t play out according to that script with Jenman putting in a tough, determined shift that some of his fans thought was enough to earn him the win. However, the judges saw it differently and scored it a majority decision for Robinson, who fought on the front foot for most of the bout – coming through a tight contest in which, for the most part and courtesy of a higher work rate and some classier, more effective fight tactics, he’d arguably held the slight upper-hand.
At the conclusion, on realising that he’d just fulfilled his ambition of being crowned the IBO Champion the likeable Redditch boxer almost gave way to some real emotion. As he fell to his knees and looked up to the skies it was clear how much winning the title had meant to him and it was on the verge of tears that he acknowledged his defeated opponent and celebrated his new status amongst boxing’s cream of the crop.
It wouldn’t come as a huge surprise if Jenman called for a rematch, and if he does and if he gets it, the new Champion will probably need a more convincing performance to put this rivalry to bed once and for all. But in the meantime Andrew Robinson has every good reason to enjoy the moment content in the fact that on 24 March 2018 he did enough to once again, proudly write his name into the history books.
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