Blackledge Aiming For Title Shots, Rocky Fielding Clash

By Shaun Brown

Boxing has its fair share of rough diamonds. Individuals that have little to no amateur experience and who are using the sport as a second shot at life. Throw in some adventures on the unlicensed circuit and you have just read a brief description of Luke Blackledge 10-0 (4).

The 22-year-old super middleweight’s life nowadays is a far cry from the one that saw him fighting on the streets of Clitheroe, which would result in him serving a couple of years at Her Majesty’s pleasure, a prison sentence that would be the wake up call he desperately needed.

Under the tutelage of Kevin Maree, the Lancashire banger is now moving to the next level of professionalism along with some top quality sparring from men such as stablemate Kenny Anderson and gym friend Tony Bellew.

“Boxing’s my life now, he told BoxingScene. “Twenty-four-seven it’s boxing for me these days. If I wasn’t here I’d probably be back in jail,” said Blackledge (who uses his father’s surname to fight as his real name Luke Robinson is already being used in the professional ranks).

A transformed life has been matched by a transformed career after an unexpected victory against former world title challenger Mads Larsen in the Dane’s backyard in June.

“He broke Larsen’s heart that night,” said Maree as he gave his assessment of the win. “You’ve got to put that win into perspective. Here’s a young lad fighting in Europe with no amateur background. He’s had a press conference for the first time, he’s pretty much on his own, he’s fighting on TV, the crowd’s against him and he went in and beat their own man. It took an unbelievable amount of guts from the kid.”

“I knew I had to stop Larsen because he won the first round, but I won the next two,” Blackeldge continued. “Because of that I wasn’t fancying my chances of getting a decision so it came to an end in the fourth round. I knew I was going to do it and I knew I was going to smash him.

“Maybe having all his fans against helped me to do that, I like that kinda thing. But the whole thing was a great experience. Even the hotel we got into when we arrived. At 6am there was noise everywhere, sounded like there were bombs going off or something. That’s all part of the funny games you get when you fight abroad though.”

Blackledge now finds himself ahead of schedule with that very victory. A recent trip to Russia to fight for a WBO Inter-Continental title, on a Sauerland promoted show, had to be shelved because Luke hadn’t fought over the ten-round distance, a problem that will be remedied when he fights next month in Bolton.

A victory there won’t be enough to satisfy the Blackledge appetite. His hunger and desire is apparent to his trainer, to everyone else around him and indeed to me when we spoke over the phone. As any fighter would tell you he too wants to fight every month, if only to provide for his young family.

Having only worked together for a few months, Maree complimented his unpolished gem on the work ethic and the sacrifices he’s making

“He’s doing this for his family. He’s a sponge of a lad and continually wants to learn and soak everything up. Even when you tell him something new he walks away and you peek round and you can see him working on what we just told him. He’s a joy to train. And in our gym he’ll learn so much because he’s with real men, real boxers and real fighters.”

With aims of fighting for English, British or even Irish titles next year (thanks to Luke’s family roots) Blackledge is ready to take on all comers. But when discussing the future, more often than not there was one name that popped up during our conversation: Rocky Fielding.

“I’ll fight him tomorrow”, insisted Blackledge. “We’ve been meant to fight a couple of times and he’s pulled out. One time he pulled out, he went on and boxed a journeyman. I was pissed off with that and I’m also pissed off because I was meant to be fighting Wayne Reed, but Rocky’s now got that fight because he sells good tickets basically, like he has done since Prizefighter.”

So far, whatever test has been thrown at Luke Blackledge’s career has been passed admirably. And no matter what he goes on to achieve in the ring he is another example that boxing can take someone from the wrong side of the law to the right side of life.

Twitter @shaun_brown