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Interview: world boxing champion Lee Haskins
These are exciting times for Lockleaze boxer Lee Haskins, who became Interim IBF bantamweight world champion on June 13 when beating Japan’s Ryosuke Iwasa in Whitchurch.
The interim champion position was created as existing champion, Californian Randy Caballero, was unable to defend his title.
Following Haskins’ victory, he and Caballero were instructed by the IBF to begin negotiations for a fight to establish a single champion (although both are currently in possession of a champion’s belt.)
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“It’s been weird,” Haskins says. “[Winning] has not changed my life very much and I don’t want it to – I still want to be the guy my three children look up to.
“After the fight I was on top of the world but that has started to calm down now. It was a feeling I’d not had before but I hope to have it a few more times.”
Haskins says that finding out when and where his next fight will be is a “waiting game”. And when he says he wants to “chase the money”, it’s because he wants to make sure his family are well looked after.
Indeed, his tastes remain refreshingly modest; he drinks only a little and his favourite way of relaxing is to “go for a Nando’s or to a nice restaurant with my missus.”
Interviewed by Channel 5’s Paul Dempsey in the minutes after victory, Haskins said he was most looking forward to a pizza on return to his Lockleaze home. Dominos were called and Lee ordered his favourite, a margarita.
In an interview with South West’s Nigel Turner Productions, Haskins talks about the moment he claimed the IBF Interim World Bantamweight title:
Back in his hometown Haskins says he is getting recognised more often, with people stopping him in the street for selfies. “That’s good,” he says. “It shows they tuned in to watch me.”
Modest, for a man who is currently listed on boxing website BoxRec as the planet’s second best bantamweight (Caballero is tenth.)
Although he doesn’t doubt his ability: “When the bell went I wanted to make a statement – that I was the best in the world. I was pleased with the way I ended the fight, with a great shot. It was an impressive finish.
“People said I got tired, but that’s nonsense – in any fight you have ups and downs.”