A man whose hopes of becoming world kick boxing champion were shattered by a road accident has beaten a bid to strip him of his £400,000 damages payout.

Robert Langford, 33, of Brighton, had already become world amateur light-middleweight champion and was launching a professional career when his sporting hopes were destroyed, London's Appeal Court heard.

The bricklayer beat the British Middleweight champion Lloyd Lewis, in a non-title fight during his first professional fight.

He was so feared in the ring his second planned opponent backed out at the weigh-in and the bout was cancelled, Lord Justice Ward told the court.

However, Mr Langford was to suffer severe whiplash injuries in December 1994 in a road accident which ended his career.

He claims had it not been for the accident, he could have become a world professional kickboxing champion with the opportunity to earn millions of dollars in America.

In 1999 Mr Langford was awarded £423,133 damages by a judge.

And yesterday three Appeal Court judges dismissed an appeal by insurers acting for the other motorists involved in the accident to reduce them.

The judges accepted the approach to calculating the damages had been wrong in some respects.

And they said they would have awarded Mr Langford £11,675 less than the original award.

However, Lord Justice Ward, sitting with Lord Justice Tuckey and Mr Justice Curtis, said that represented less than five per cent of the total and it would be wrong to tinker with the original pay-out, which will now stand in its entirety.

The vast majority of Mr Langford's damages were awarded for the "lost chance" of achieving worldwide sporting glory.

Making the award in 1999, Mr Justice Klevan said Mr Langford was destined to be a "top-flight kickboxer" before his car was in collision with an on-coming van in Warren Road, Brighton.

The van's driver, Gary Hebran, and his employers, Nynex Cable Communications Ltd, admitted liability in the case, but their insurers disputed the amount of compensation due to Mr Langford.