GUS ROBINSON MBE

Gus Robinson has a proven track record as an achiever - in business and in boxing.

As a builder and property developer Robinson is world class and his success saw him awarded the MBE in the 1998 New Year’s Honours list.

He set up his own company, Gus Robinson Developments, in 1976 and almost three decades on, the Hartlepool-based business is still going strong, both in England and in Spain.

Also still going strong is his love affair with boxing which began when he saw a picture of Sugar Ray Robinson in a book he was given as a child. He became interested in the noble art from an early age.

His uncle, Edward Robinson, was a heavyweight fighter from Annfield Plain in County Durham and Gus himself fought as an amateur, enjoying some modest success.

It was in the 1980s that he made his name in boxing, becoming a manager and promoter and opening the Champs Gym in Church Street, where local legend, George Bowes, a former British title challenger, was the trainer.

Gus was the promoter for the North-East in the celebrated ITV boxing series, Fight Night, which ran from 1984 for more than a decade.

It was Robinson’s promotional skills that provided the platform for Newcastle’s John Davison to win the WBC International featherweight title in Hartlepool back in March 1990. Gus tempted the Thai, Srikoon Narachawat, to put his title on the line at the Borough Hall and then had the satisfaction of seeing Davison capitalise on the opportunity by knocking out Srikoon in the fifth round.

Three more WBC International title fights against oriental opposition - Thailand’s Bangsaen Yodmuaydang and Sakda Sorpakdee and the Korean, Jae-hyun Hwang - cemented, not only Davison’s claims as one of the leading featherweights in the world, but Robinson’s status as a top-line promoter.

In 1996, Gus enhanced his reputation still further by working in association with two of the world’s biggest promoters, Frank Warren and Don King in shows at the Newcastle Arena. First it was the WBC World super-middleweight confrontation between Nigel Benn and Sugar Boy Malinga and then later in the year the WBO super-featherweight clash between Prince Naseem Hamed and Daniel Alicia.

Temple and Wright are the leading figures in his West View Road Gym which is built at Stranton House, the home of Gus Robinson Developments since 1976. His head coach there is Peter Cope, who joined the set-up in 1998, while the old master George Bowes has been using his expertise with the juniors at the amateur club on the same premises.

Gus was also chairman of the Northern Area Council of the British Boxing Board of Control for 13 years and handled one of the most complex separations in the domestic game when Glenn McCrory split with manager Doug Bidwell – the marathon talks lasting almost 24 hours.

It has not only been the pro ranks Robinson’s name has been synonymous with.

Gus has been a long-term ally of the amateur game, including being chairman of the Boys Welfare Youth Club, who enjoyed along run of titles in the juniors and seniors. Despite the success, Robinson, a board member for 20 years, showed great integrity and never approached any boxers to turn professional.

When amateur boxing was a feeling the pinch in the mid-1990s, Gus staged an amateur show at Hartlepool’s Borough Hall in February 1995 to help fund the England team to the European Championships. He also promoted three finals of the National Association of Clubs for Young People Championship (formerly known as the NABC) in Peterlee and Seaham. All local amateur clubs in the area have benefited from the support of Gus Robinson Developments.

Robinson, during his spell as the chairman of East Durham Development Agency, was also the inspiration behind the founding of the National Boxing Academy, which was opened at the East Durham and Houghall Community College in Peterlee. His foresight won him backing from two government ministers, first Tony Banks MP and then Kate Hoey MP.

Gus was born in Annfield Plain, County Durham in 1949, but has spent nearly all his life in East Durham and Hartlepool, where he now lives. A happy family man, he is married to Judith and they have four grown-up children: Daniel, Lucy, Anna and Adelle.