Q&A with recently crowned European champion, Lee Haskins

By Boxing News - 08/15/2012 - Comments

Image: Q&A with recently crowned European champion, Lee HaskinsBy Ian Aldous: Lee Haskins (26-2) is currently riding a ten-fight win streak that goes all the way back to 2008. Last month he successfully moved up in weight and claimed the vacant European bantamweight title, following domestic domination in the super-flyweight division.

This week the native of Bristol, England spoke with me about his recent title victory and what the future holds for him.

First of all, congratulations on defeating Stuart Hall (12-2-1) via unanimous decision back on July 7th and becoming European bantamweight champion. You’ve had a month to reflect, please give us your thoughts on the fight.

LH “I just think it was a good fight, everything went to plan. It was a great opportunity for me to get the European title shot at bantamweight, so, yeah everything went to plan and it was an easy night for me.”

You mentioned the word ‘easy’ there. How tough of a test was Stuart Hall? At times it seemed to be, like you said, quite easy for you on the night.

LH “Yeah, I had the whole fight under control and the fight was all mine from round one. If he had anything, he had maybe the last two rounds where I was just taking it easy I think.”

Do you view the European title as a stepping-stone or is it a belt that you’d like to defend and build up your reputation throughout Europe in the 118lbs division?

LH “I’d definitely like to defend it once. That’s my main thoughts at the moment. Obviously I wanted to win it so I can just follow my dreams and fight for that world title eventually. That’s the whole plan.”

It also must have been a big deal for you to gain some exposure with the fight being broadcast on Channel 5 freeview TV here in the UK?

LH “It was a great opportunity. We sold out the arena and the Bristol fans got to come down and see me. That’s something I’ve been trying to do for a long time as I’ve been fighting away for the past few years, so to get something so close to Bristol was good for me and getting all my fans down to watch.”

It’s been so long since you’ve fought close to home after fights throughout the UK and a trip to Morocco?

LH “It doesn’t bother me. I don’t really mind going away too much. I get a few friends and we just travel up there. As long as I’m in a ring boxing, I feel comfortable. I wanna prove to people that I’m the best and I just get in the ring and do what I’m doing, wherever I got to do it, it’s still a square ring.”

The WBC currently ranks you as their No.9 bantamweight. Their champion is Shinsuke Yamanaka, is that a fight you could see yourself taking?

LH “Yeah, definitely. If they phoned me up tomorrow for that title shot, I’d be there. I wanna fight for a world title and I wanna fight the best, so then I’ve beaten the best. I don’t wanna fight no has-been or anybody like that. I want to be the best.”

We’ve seen you fight throughout the weight classes during your career. Are you happy now at 118lbs or will we see you drop back down in the future?

LH “I can drop back down to super-fly, wouldn’t be too much work. If a world title comes up at super-fly, I’ll be there. If a world title comes up at bantamweight, I’m here. They’re two weights that I can float about between. To be fair, I reckon I would be able to go up (in weight).”



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