LUKE Watkins says not everything went to plan as he stopped Robin Dupre in the sixth round to be crowned the new Commonwealth cruiserweight champion.

The unbeaten Swindon man got off to a pedestrian start at York Hall which saw Dagenham’s Dupre take the early initiative.

However, Watkins, who now has a record of 12 wins with eight stoppages, grew into the contest and following a flurry of punches in the sixth round, finished Dupre with two minutes 16 of the round gone.

While the 27-year-old was happy with the result, he concedes he didn’t have everything his own way at York Hall.

“I believed I was going on at the 8:30 mark so we arrived at 6:30-6:45 and we had an hour to get ready,” he said.

“I thought it would be a bit more professional than that, but I can’t complain, with the power of god, my coach and everyone else, we got the win and the result we wanted.

“At times I fought the fight I wanted to, but a fight never goes exactly the way you would like it so Robin had some success in the first two rounds and credit to him.

“He was hustling me hard and I was finding my feet and getting into it, once I was finding my shots, I started landing and finding my rhythm.

“All credit to Robin Dupre, without him I wouldn’t have had the opportunity, so I’d like to say a massive congratulations to him and thank him for being in there with me because it takes two people to tango.”

Dupre was clearly shaken in the fourth round after being sent to the canvas, and while he recovered slightly in the fifth, Watkins says he went into the sixth round looking to end the contest.

“Robin was rocking and I wanted to get him out of there, in the round before that my coach said his legs were unsteady,” he added.

“I was trying to find the right hand and once I did that I just kept putting it on him, there is no feeling like this in the world, this is my drug I am addicted to it.

“I just want to keep progressing through the ranks and hopefully I can become a world champion.”