Heavyweight Steve Robinson headlines Fight Academy’s show on April 7th at Durham’s Rainton Meadows Arena – live on Fightzone.

The Geordie might be genial outside the ring but, as he admits, he likes to finish fights early and doesn’t mind taking a punch to land one!

Turning over in 2019, the Newcastle man raced to four wins, with three KOs, before coming unstuck against unheralded Shane Gill in February last year.  Since then, Robinson – nicknamed Drago after Rocky Balboa’s former arch nemesis – has picked up two wins on the trot, including a career-best performance against Nick Campbell in December, beating the Scottish prospect inside four rounds.

Massively excited to be headlining in his native Northeast for the first time, and to be making his debut appearance on Fightzone, the 32-year-old also has the added incentive of fighting for his first title [slated to be the WBC International belt] on the card, which includes North Shields’ Tommy Hodgson and big-punching Sheffield lightweight, Keanen Wainwright.

Ahead of the show, Steve chats about appearing on Fightzone and, with Solomon Dacres recently beating fellow Geordie Rob Ismay for the English Heavyweight Title, facing the newly crowned champ as a future foe.

“To be topping the bill and fighting for a belt on this show, it’s inspiring and onwards and upwards for me.  Rainton Meadows is a good venue and there’s some great local talent on the show too, so it’ll be a great watch and atmosphere.  It’s a brilliant chance to show what the Northeast is all about.

“I’ve been to all the Fightzone shows that have been up here [in the Northeast] to see Tommy [Hodgson], and they’ve all been excellent setups.  I really appreciate the opportunity and it’s an honour to be fighting on one of Dennis’ [Hobson] shows. 

“Fightzone viewers can expect excitement.  I’m raw, but if someone hits me twice then I’ll hit them four times!  I’m not worried about getting hit and I’ve got power in both hands.  I don’t just get stoppages either; I get full-on asleep knockouts!  I’ll fight fire-with-fire but be sensible about it too, and I’m ready to bring a title back to the Northeast.

“This title will hopefully be the first of many.  We’ve just seen Solomon Dacres winning the English Title; that’s a fight I’d love to have after this one and hopefully have my belt and his on the line!  I thought it was a shocking stoppage [against Rob Ismay] but at the end of the day the referee has a duty of care and he’s seen something I haven’t. 

“Solomon is a good fighter, there’s no denying that.  He’s a good prospect but I’ve been in with heavier hitters, so I wouldn’t be worried about taking shots to get close to him, and I’d stop him boxing me on the outside.  He’s slick and has finesse, but he doesn’t like getting hit.  You could see that with Rob’s jabs in the first round, and Rob’s a natural light-heavyweight so what would a 6’7″ 18-stone man ramming a jab down his throat, do!  It’s easy to say from the outside, but it’s a fight I definitely want in the future.”