By John Hargate

One of Britain’s best loved journeyman, “Rockin’” Robin Deakin, may be set follow fellow boxing hearthrob Gary Stretch into the showbiz world of glitz, glamour and gorgeous women. The 26-year-old Crawley fighter always gives a good account of himself despite a long losing streak, but is hoping to reverse his fortunes by knocking them bandy on the small screen instead.

Deakin, 1-49, had to play his cards close to his chest for contractual reasons, but told BoxingScene why he is considering a career move. “Hopefully the T.V. show [Writer's note: Deakin is in talks about a reality T.V. show appearance] will take off for me so I can come out of boxing,” he said.

“The boxing’s not going well – I’ve been suspended twice. The thing is, how can they [the BBBoC] suspend me? I just come to entertain, and I box for the right reasons. People say, 'Oh, your record’s shit', but it’s deceiving. I’ve lost some fights I should have won, like the first time I boxed Jason Hastie [in 2008]. I beat him hands down, I put him down, but they gave it to him [by a margin of 39-38]. In Scotland you need a knockout for a draw!”

He continued: “The Board say to me, ‘You need to get a win,’ and of course I do, but how can I get a win when their referees say I didn’t win when I did? It’s a catch-22 thing.”

On a more serious note, Deakin paid tribute to his friend and fellow pro Lewis Pinto, who tragically took his own life in June this year. “It’s a loss to the sport really, because he had the ability,” said Deakin.

“It’s gutting. I spoke to him two hours before I boxed on the Saturday in Scotland and then I found out Sunday [June 3] he’d passed away. We’d arranged to meet during the week for coffee, to chat, because he just wanted to talk or whatever. Then obviously Sunday I found out what had happened – I was devastated.”

“Lewis was genuine and down to earth,” he reflected. “This is a bloke that could fight. You can be the hardest man in the world, but even hard men have hearts – his broke and he broke. I hope he’s sleeping well.”