One hundred per-cent ready for the challenge. That’s Hannah Robinson, who is primed for her appearance on Titles on the Tyne.
The 32-year-old, gifted with a capital G, takes on Charlie Sutton in an all-English contest for the Commonwealth Silver championship on Saturday, April 18.
It is a fascinating 10-rounder and forms just part of Jobes Boxing’s jam-packed show at the Vertu Motors Arena, or the Eagles Arena in ‘old money’.
Five belts are on the line in Newcastle, where the Northern Area re-match between two-weight champ Matt McCallum and Seaham’s ‘punching politician’ Adam Hepple is the headline bout.
Elsewhere, Joe Miller, Cyrus Pattinson and Lee Rogers challenge for a variety of Commonwealth belts. A little more on them later.
Robinson v Sutton looks a fight and a half from which the winner would get a first foot on the professional title ladder.
It would be a natural progression for Hannah, who collected plenty of gold along the way in her amateur days.
She won the Senior England title, when representing Birtley ABC, while she was victorious in both the GB Championship and Tri-Nations in an England vest.
The Bishop Auckland girl was part of the GB Boxing set-up, where she was champion at the 2022 Balkan Tournament and earned silver medals at the GeeBee and Feliks Stamm Memorial tournaments in 2023.
After beginning her career over in Manchester with Jamie Moore and Nigel Travis, she has returned to a DL postcode, reeling off three straight under the astute guidance of old coach Peter Shepperson.
“I’m looking forward to stepping up to 10 rounds and winning my first title,” said Hannah.
“I’ve done the rounds in the gym, so mentally I’m confident I can do it, but I know it will be a challenge to do it on fight night.
“My coach and everyone in the gym believes I’m ready. My management team wouldn’t have put me forward for this opportunity if they didn’t think I was 100 per cent ready.
“I’m looking forward to testing myself and stepping up.”
Remarkably, this is ‘only’ for the Commonwealth Silver championship. Given the dearth of women’s British title contests, punch-lines would have thought this looks a bout would be worthy of such a tag.
Robinson will start as favourite against Sutton at the Vertu Motors Arena given her experience, pedigree and her proven class both as an amateur and a pro.
There isn’t a great deal in it in terms of the records of both women – Robinson is at 5-0 and Sutton 5-1, her lone defeat coming at the hands of Lithuania’s Vaida Masiokaite in her second fight. They have only one common opponent, Erica Alvarez, Hannah having outclassed the Argentinian at Houghton in April 2025, just a month after Charlie had outpointed her a month earlier.
For Robinson she dreams that victory over Sutton would be a step towards winning a world title.
“My team, myself and everyone around me believe I’m capable of winning a world championship, so this is just a stepping stone on the way to that really,” said Hannah.
“I want to get the 10 rounds in here and I want to experience what it feels like to win a title and then move on to European and World fights after this.”
That might be a little further down the line but she says how happy she is to be boxing on such big occasions.
“I get to show what I can do in front of lots of people,” she said in an interview with BBC Tees Sport.
“When I was boxing for GB, I could be in a sports hall in the middle of nowhere in Poland.
“I’m enjoying the experience.”
In the other championship contests, Seaham boxer Joe Miller will face Nigeria’s Sodiq Oyakojo for the Commonwealth International super-featherweight title.
Fan favourite Cyrus Pattinson also has African opposition at welterweight, Alex Kachelewa, from Tanzania, for the Commonwealth International belt.
Jobes Boxing dazzler Lee Rogers will too be up against a boxer from Tanzania, Deric Godfrey, when they meet for the Commonwealth Youth bantamweight crown.
You don’t have to go as far as Tanzania or Nigeria for the protagonists in the fight of the night. Matt McCallum and Adam Hepple are from our doorstep and are excited to be crossing swords again for the Northern Area light-heavyweight title.
They met in July 2023, when Hepple stopped McCallum inside two rounds and since then each man has enjoyed some big nights. Saturday promises to be another.
Words: Roy Kelly
