Vegan boxer defends his international title

Cheavon Clarke faced what promised to be his toughest test in his first defence of his WBA Intercontinental title.

The British fighter was fighting Apochi, who had taken all of his wins by stopping his opponent.  Cheavon went into the fight unbeaten in ten fights as a professional.

After conceding the earlier rounds in a technical opening period, Apochi made a determined comeback and landed some powerful shots to remind everyone he was still in the fight.  Realising he needed a knockout, he went on the full attack. Cheavon declined to retreat and defence option to stand and trade punches,

The decision went Cheavon’s way by majority as one of the three judges had the scores even.

Vegan power

Cheavon went vegan in 2018 while still an amateur, medalling at the European Championships and Commonwealth games before representing GB at the Olympics.  He turned professional in 2020.

“There’s not a lot of time between training, resting, eating, training again” he says. “So being able to eat something, digest it, have a quick little rest, and go again. It’s great. Before when I was eating meat, that took a lot longer.”