A Journeyman's Despair
By James McKnight
If you are reading this and you are not aware of who Robin Deakin is then let me inform you.
He was born on the 19th of April 1986. He was born with a congenital deformity known as 'club foot'. This condition affects one or both feet of the human body and is also referred to as 'back to front feet'. Deakin was told by his doctors that he would never be able to walk, however, this did not deter him and he amazingly proved the doctors wrong.
Since then Deakin took up boxing to mainly try to strengthen up his legs and quickly he fell in love with the sport. He fought as an amateur and faced some very good boxers a long the way. He fought Gary Sykes in a senior ABA semi-final, who has gone on to win a BBBofC British super-featherweight title in the professional ranks. Deakin then headed to the Jersey Islands to train and box and fought in a show where he met Jersey's number 1 prospect, Ben Murray.
Whilst he was in Jersey he met the legendary Steve Collins who helped him out at that point in his career as it was Collins who recommended Deakin to Frank Warren and not long after that Deakin went back to England to sign a professional contract with Warren.
'Rockin' Robin Deakin's first pro fight was on the 28th of October 2006. He fought Shaun Walton and won, but since then he has been on a run of 49 consecutive losses. Even at the age of 26, Deakin is known as a 'journeyman'. After his first 11 fights he signed with a new manager in Mickey Helliet.
Deakin has a lot of energy and he transports this to his boxing. He likes to get at his opponents from first bell to last and is the type of fighter who never gives up. Deakin is a warrior and does not believe in staying on the back foot to give his opponents the upper hand. Despite his losing record, he has only been knocked out twice in his professional career, to Ricky Owen in 2007 and Stephen Smith in 2008.
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