Luke Watkins (born 27 November 1989) is an English professional boxer who held the Commonwealth cruiserweight title from 2017 to 2018.

Professional career

Watkins made his professional debut on 20 September 2014, scoring a fourth-round technical knockout (TKO) victory over David Vicena at the Wembley Arena in London.^[2]

After compiling a record of 11–0 (7 KOs) he faced Robin Dupre for the vacant Commonwealth cruiserweight title on 7 October 2017 at the York Hall in London. Watkins knocked his opponent down in round four before securing a sixth-round TKO to capture his first professional title.^[3] His first defence came two months later against Mike Stafford on 2 December at the Leicester Arena. After encountering some difficulties in the first few rounds, Watkins began to take control midway through the fight, opening a cut below Stafford's eye in the sixth round. At the end of the seventh, Stafford's corner warned their man that they would call off the fight to save him from further punishment. Seeing no improvements from Stafford, his corner called a halt to the contest at the end of the eighth round, awarding Watkins a stoppage win by corner retirement (RTD).^[4]

His second defence came against WBA Continental Cruiserweight champion and 2016 Olympian, Lawrence Okolie, on 6 June 2018 at York Hall in London, with Okolie's WBA title also on the line. Watkins suffered two knockdowns in the third round, the second of which promoted referee Michael Alexander to call a halt to the contest, handing Watkins the first defeat of his career to lose his Commonwealth title by TKO.^[5]

His next fight was against Isaac Chamberlain – who also lost to Okolie in his previous fight – on 27 October 2018 at the Copper Box Arena in London. After a hard-fought ten rounds, Watkins suffered his second defeat, losing via points decision (PTS). Referee Kieran McCann^[6] scored the bout 95–94 in favour of Chamberlain, with the defining factor being a late knockdown scored by Chamberlain in the final seconds of the tenth and final round.^[7]

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
16	Win	14–2	Ossie Jervier	PTS	6	27 Apr 2019	Oasis Leisure Centre, Swindon, England
15	Loss	13–2	Isaac Chamberlain	PTS	10	27 Oct 2018	Copper Box Arena, London, England
14	Loss	13–1	Lawrence Okolie	TKO	3 (12), 1:40	6 Jun 2018	York Hall, London, England	Lost Commonwealth cruiserweight title; For WBA Continental cruiserweight title
13	Win	13–0	Mike Stafford	RTD	8 (12), 3:00	2 Dec 2017	Leicester Arena, Leicester, England	Retained Commonwealth cruiserweight title
12	Win	12–0	Robin Dupre	TKO	6 (12), 2:16	7 Oct 2017	York Hall, London, England	Won vacant Commonwealth cruiserweight title
11	Win	11–0	Ian Tims	KO	4 (10), 1:13	10 Jun 2017	Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
10	Win	10–0	Jiri Svacina	TKO	4 (8), 2:38	8 Apr 2017	Oasis Leisure Centre, Swindon, England
9	Win	9–0	Dmitrij Kalinovskij	PTS	6	16 Jul 2016	York Hall, London, England
8	Win	8–0	Reinis Porozovs	TKO	5 (6), 1:40	10 Jun 2016	Grange Leisure Centre, Swindon, England
7	Win	7–0	Tony Cruise	PTS	6	7 May 2016	York Hall, London, England
6	Win	6–0	Sandor Balogh	TKO	2 (6), 1:00	20 Dec 2015	Grange Leisure Centre, Swindon, England
5	Win	5–0	Tamas Bajzath	PTS	8	24 Oct 2015	Oasis Leisure Centre, Swindon, England
4	Win	4–0	Jeno Markhot	TKO	3 (8), 1:32	13 Feb 2015	Oasis Leisure Centre, Swindon, England
3	Win	3–0	Istvan Kun	KO	5 (6), 1:35	1 Nov 2014	Oasis Leisure Centre, Swindon, England
2	Win	2–0	Martin Horal	MD	4	27 Sep 2014	Sparkassen-Arena, Kiel, Germany
1	Win	1–0	David Vicena	TKO	4 (6), 2:00	20 Sep 2014	Wembley Arena, London, England

References

External links

• Boxing record for Luke Watkins from BoxRec (registration required)
• Luke Watkins' official website