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Lee Haskins is the new IBF world champion
Lockleaze’s Lee Haskins is the new IBF world bantamweight champion after his American opponent Randy Caballero came in at five and a half pounds over the official weight limit for the division.
Caballero, known as ‘Golden Boy’, was so heavy he would even have come above the scales in the next weight division up, super bantamweight.
32-year-old Haskins and his team turned down the chance to fight in Las Vegas regardless in what is known as a “catch-weight contest”, which means that it is unlikely he will win any of the purse from the cancelled fight.
is needed now More than ever
“It made no sense to do that,” Haskins’ manager Jamie Sanigar told Boxing News. “If Lee had lost he wouldn’t have kept the world title. This way, we’ve got the world title, and we can go back home and look at our options.”
Haskins said that despite winning the belt he was “absolutely devastated for my family and friends out here and in Bristol and England”.
“They didn’t get to see me perform and I’ve worked so hard for this opportunity to become world champion,” he told Made In Bristol TV.
“He must have known weeks ago that he was that heavy on the night,” Haskins, the former interim world champion, added.