A PROFESSIONAL LIFE: LIAM ROBINSON

On May 4th, at the Power of Scotland 4 tournament at the Lagoon, Paisley, near Glasgow, Liam Robinson lost his ISKA Professional British Welterweight crown against Scotland’s John Douglas. After being put down in the 4th round, Liam won the final round by a clear margin to force a split decision – inevitably, like all split decisions, a matter of some controversy.

However, if coming back so well from the knockdown shows Liam’s determination and fitness, it doesn’t compare with his victory over Greg Severs in Wolverhampton to gain the ISKA title in November 2007. This was probably the most impressive achievement of a fine career dating back to 1999 and including six titles at amateur and professional level. Two weeks before Liam, fighting Andy Thrasher in Manchester, suffered a broken nose and a rare defeat with a 3rd round stoppage. While full of respect for his opponent, Liam still sounds faintly puzzled about how he lost:

‘I was always going to be cautious of Andy’s knockout punching power and took the shots well that broke my nose. I was surprised when I was starting to come back into the fight to get dropped by a knee as I’m known for being good in the clinch. I was ready to turn it up a gear in the last two rounds, but I didn’t get a chance to show what I’d been working so hard for.’

Liam is by no means the first boxer to be surprised by an inside-the-distance defeat, but what followed next makes him pretty remarkable. He had promised the promoter at Wolverhampton that he would fight regardless of what happened short of a concussive head injury – and it never occurred to him to go back on his word. His legs were still bruised from the Thrasher fight, his opponent (quite legitimately) seized every chance to push his broken nose this way and that, but Liam’s control and technical skills kept him out of trouble and on to a comfortable points victory.

Liam is a very successful professional, but what, I wondered, does this mean in the UK? First of all, it doesn’t mean getting rich from Muay Thai. Liam frankly spells out the financial rewards:

‘Only a handful of boxers, even in the top ten, will have ever earned over ?500 for a fight. Some in the top three have fought for as little as ?100. If you’re a big ticket seller, regardless of how good a fighter you are, you’re likely to be paid more. When you take into account the time spent running or doing fitness work, for most of us it equates to about ?2 an hour maximum.’

The dedication required is astonishing. Liam does a 40-hour week as an internet business manager in Bedford: he lives in Northampton and two or three times a week trains at Stafford, so he is very familiar with the roads of the East Midlands! He sums up his life as training early in the morning and late at night, then catching up with sleep at weekends. Weekdays start with a run at 5.00 or 6.00, often followed by a personal training session, then work from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm and an evening spent training with Tony Myers at Stafford (finishing at 11.00 pm!) or working with his own boxers in Northampton. Not surprisingly Saturday morning is time for a lie-in, but the rest of the weekend is centred round the gym and roadwork.

Not content with his own rigorous training schedule, Liam trains half-a-dozen boxers at his Sor Khamsingh gym and is equally proud of their achievements: in 2007 his fighters racked up over 20 fights, with only one defeat. His girl-friend Sheree Halliday, English champion and UK Number 2, is due to fight for the British title; 16-year-old Ben Lucas, area champion, is the youngest fighter ever to be ranked in the UK top twenty; Liam’s two brothers train with him, the 19-year-old undefeated as a senior, the 9-year-old English Junior Champion.

Liam is one of an increasing number of British Muay Thai boxers with very close links with Thailand. He has trained at various Thai gyms and makes frequent visits to the country, last year three visits of a month each. In fact he believes that the breakthrough in his career came with his first visit to Thailand which led to his asking Tony Myers to train him – now Liam says, ‘If it wasn’t for Tony, I would not fight or train Muay Thai any more. He is by far the best and most knowledgeable coach I’ve ever had.’

Liam explains how Tony led him to Thailand and Thailand led him to Tony:

‘I was already an admirer of the way that Tony taught his fighters and the ability of the boxers he put out, but, having seen so many instructors and “wannabe masters”, I wanted to see what it was actually like in Thailand as Tony’s methods were completely different to anything I had been shown before. Thailand opened my eyes to the correct way to score a bout and I discussed at length the scoring with Tony, managers of gyms and officials in Thailand. I also gained a lot just seeing the way they train. I seem to pick things up quite quickly and could adapt these techniques and training methods to use when I got home.’

The association with Tony has brought constant success: in over five years the only loss on Liam’s record before that defeat to Andy Thrasher was one to a Thai boxer on the Queen’s Birthday Show. Just as important to Liam is doing things the right way. Before the Douglas fight, he looked forward to ‘a nice technical fight’ (which it was) with an opponent who has ‘a good Thai style’ – Liam emphasises that his own style is more Thai than European. I asked him about his involvement in all aspects of Muay Thai (he’s more likely to boast of the accuracy of his judging than his achievements in the ring) and got a typically thoughtful reply:

‘The love I have developed for the true stadium Muay Thai in Thailand makes me want to help develop UK Muay Thai as much as I can. This has meant trying to fight with a good style myself, educating my students with the same style and judging at shows so that people are rewarded for fighting in the correct manner by winning the fights they should win.’

As I’m writing this, I’ve just read a piece by a normally well-balanced commentator in the national press about the television documentary Strictly Baby Fight Club about youngsters in Muay Thai. He refers to some parents as ‘brutal’ and finds parts of the programme ‘almost too much for this faint-hearted reviewer’ – somewhat over the top, though in truth some parents and trainers in the documentary did themselves and Muay Thai no favours.

After that the purist, almost missionary dedication and reasoned support of a good professional and superb role model like Liam Robinson are more than welcome.

Liam Robinson is sponsored by NB’s Sports Bar in Northampton.

Liam and all his team of boxers at Sor Khamsingh wear Hero shorts supplied by http://www.billionmore.com/

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