SWINDON’S Joe Beeden celebrated his first professional win on Friday night when he stopped local favourite Mike Robinson in Southport.

Fighting at his favoured weight of super featherweight, Beeden knocked his rival in the third round and now hopes the victory is the first of many.

The 20-year-old had endured a tough start to life in boxing’s paid ranks having lost all nine of previous fights although most of those bouts were in and around the lightweight division.

And Beeden now believes fighting at featherweight or super featherweight will bring him more glory, saying: “It was a great, great experience especially knocking him down.

“I felt right at the weight. It just shows what I can do at that weight. I’m looking to fight no higher than super featherweight now.

“I just boxed well. Put into practice everything we worked on in the gym.

“I was working the body well and using the jab. I was just breaking him down. I caught him with some good combinations and a very good shot. The knockout was an overhand right hook and he went down.

“It was a great feeling, I just ran over to my trainer and we had two big grins on our faces.

“That feeling now makes me want to push on and keep pushing on.”

Trainer Joe Wrona was in Beeden’s corner in Southport and was delighted with his boxer. He said: “Put it this way, in his other fights Joe has had it all against him really. He is always giving away height, weight and experience.

“He has been very unfortunate in two or three of his fights when he didn’t deserve to lose. He was fighting at the right weight this time and you could see the difference.

“Obviously it is progress and that result is testament to how he has been coming on.

“We’re obviously not going to get carried away with it but we’ll see who he fights next. He’s down to fight at Keith Mayo’s show or he could fight in Northern Ireland later this month, we’ll see.”

Beeden started the bout well against former Prizefighter and English title contender Robinson and rocked him early in the round. Robinson had some success unloading his big shots but it was Beeden’s tidier work that took the opening round.

The Swindon boxer stunned Robinson again in the second round as he worked well behind the jab and put together several fine combinations. Beeden could have stopped Robinson late in the round but the bell eventually saved the Liverpudlian.

Beeden dominated the third round and eventually put his rival down with a superb overhand right hook which sent Robinson to the canvas. Robinson was up on his feet midway through the count but his feet were gone and the referee stopped the contest with him in no position to continue.