Erick loses four round contest on points

Stoke Newington’s Erick Ochieng lost his unbeaten record to middleweight rival Luke Robinson from Castleford, Yorkshire at York Hall on Friday.

Fighting on a Spencer Fearon’s Hardknocks Promotion in front of a packed house, the Hackney fighter lost the four-round bout 39 points to 38 according to referee Ken Curtis.

It was non-stop action with both boxers trading left and right hooks. Robinson, who had a height and reach advantage over Ochieng never stopped coming forward.

The Hackney man was backed up against the ropes and had to box bravely to move away from them.

When in the centre of the ring Ochieng was catching his opponent with left and right hooks, especially in the final round, but it was not enough with Curtis claiming Robinson won two rounds, Ochieng one, with one round called a tie.

Clapton manager and trainer Brian Lawrence said after the fight: “Erick was unlucky and he could have got a draw out of the fight, but apart from his unbeaten record going, it’s not a major setback,” Clapton trainer Brian Lawrence said after the fight.

“We trained for six rounds, but the fight was reduced to four. It changed our game plan a bit and you could see by the way Erick dominated the final round, if there were two more rounds he would have won easily.

“I was quite pleased with what I saw from Erick and his defence was really good and just where I want it to be. His opponent threw a lot of punches, but didn’t land many and blew himself out.”

Robinson was by far the best opponent Ochieng had to face in his seven bout career and Fearon would like to see a return fight between the two in his next show.

“If it is a six-rounder with good money we might be interested, but I am sure these two will fight again, either for a British or European title in the future,” Lawrence added.

There were two title fights on the bill, with Fearon boxer Darren Hamilton winning the Southern Area light-welterweight belt off Peter McDonagh, stopping his opponent two minutes, 59 seconds into the eighth round.

The other title fight saw Leeds’ Adil Anwar retain his International Masters welterweight title when he stopped Aylesbury’s Nathan Graham in the 10th round.

In the only other bout on the show, Lambeth’s Danny Davis made a winning debut when he outpointed Lithuanian Vladimiros Balaklijec 40 points to 36.

Former Lion Club boxer Jamie Arlane was down to appear on the show but pulled out during the week and trainer Terry Stewart revealed the boxer is no longer with him.