By Matt Bozeat
SAM Eggington says he would “love to have a go” at fighting bareknuckle – but is returning to boxing after quitting the day job.
On Saturday night, Eggington was ringside at a bareknuckle show in Wolverhampton, a short drive from his Stourbridge home.
The 31-year-old enjoyed every punch from his ringside seat and admits he was considering his career options after losing to Abass Baraou for the vacant European super-welterweight title in Telford in March.
“I went out and got a job,” he said.
“I was doing house clearances with my brother. It was proper intriguing, seeing how people live.
“You wouldn’t believe some of the things I saw!
“It was a good laugh at times, but it only took one phone call from (manager and trainer) Jon (Pegg) to get me back in the gym.”
That has led to Eggington being matched in a six-rounder in Cannock later this month.
The Excelsior Sporting Club bill at Bar Sport’s Premier Suite is topped by a clash of unbeatens for the Midlands Area super-middleweight title.
Ollie Cooper (8-0) gets home advantage when he challenges Hereford’s Liam O’Hare (10-0) for the belt.
Eggington was only 19 when he won Midlands welterweight honours back in May, 2013 and moved on to win British, Commonwealth, European and IBO honours.
There’s talk of a fight in Canada in the new year, provided Eggington comes through in Cannock.
He said: “After Baraou I did think about it (retiring).
“But I thought I won that fight and if I won, I wouldn’t be retiring. It’s not as if I was getting hurt by punches that didn’t used to bother me. I knew it was close and I just didn’t do enough in the last two or three.
“I thought I was doing enough before then. The scorecards didn’t do me justice.”
As is usually the case when Eggington fights, it was a fight of the year contender.
The British Boxing Board of Control have previously named his battles with Ted Cheeseman and Bilal Jkitou as fights of the year and Eggington believes his reputation means he isn’t rewarded when he boxes.
He said: “If I box, people think: ‘Sam isn’t having a tear up, so he must be losing.’ They think that when I box, it’s my Plan B and that means Plan A isn’t working. If I box, people think I’m on the slide.”
Eggington did say he might consider boxing bareknuckle in the future.
Ex-gloved pros Kevin Greenwood and Kamil Sokolowski were winners on the show in Wolverhampton that Eggington described as “good fun.”
He added: “I enjoyed it. It was my sort of thing.
“There were some wild fights, but not as many as there used to be.
“They (promoters BYB Extreme) have made some good signings.
“I would love to have a go and the promoters told me to stay in touch, but I would have to be paid well to risk coming out of the ring looking the way some of them did on Saturday night.”