SAM EGGINGTON is under no illusions about the direction of his storybook career so far.
The Birmingham brawler just wants to continue nabbing every opportunity he can.
The 27-year-old has already fought 36 times as a professional, topped the bill on more than one occasion for Matchroom and will be headlining his second consecutive fight night under the Mick Hennessy banner this weekend.
Eggington comes up against former super-welterweight champion Carlos Molina, in a fight which should see both styles blend beautifully in a middleweight clash for the WBC Silver strap.
Having picked up the BBBofC fight of the year award last year for his clash with Ted Cheeseman, before going on to stop Floyd Mayweather stablemate Ashley Theophane in December, Eggington wants to put on a show once again.
Molina, who has fought the likes of Ishe Smith, Erislandy Lara, James Kirland and Josh Kelly, will step into the ring at the Coventry Skydome to try to stop Eggington in his tracks.
But Eggington will be having none of it.
He told SunSport: “I’m obviously predicting a win. Plan A is the stoppage and if we get to plan B then fine. But I’m going for the stoppage.
“It’s hard to say if he’s the best but he’s definitely the most experienced I’ve fought. Is he the best? I’m not sure.
“I’ve been in with bigger punchers, I’ve been in with better boxers but it depends, I’m sure he can mix it up and he’s still probably one of the best I’ve fought.
“But I’m always working on boxing, I’ve neglected it in the past and if it comes down to a dog-fight then I’ll bring it. I’m not going to back off and get nervous about it. I can have a tear up just fine.
“I’ve got to win as a world title has got to be the aim, I’ve done everything else. If I’m not looking for a world title then I’m just here to get punched in the face aren’t I? So I’ve got to have that ambition of picking up a world title.
“I’ll be very unhappy if I retired without even having the opportunity to box for a world title, that’s definitely the aim.
“This fight is for the WBC Silver at 160lbs, it was an opportunity I couldn’t not take. I’ll win it well and then we’ll see what comes up after but I’ve always just rolled with the punches.”
Roll with the punches Eggington certainly has. He’s endured some tough, gruelling losses in his career, none more so than his shock defeat to Hassan Mwakinyo in 2018.
But he also has some nice, glossy wins on his resume, including one against former world champion Paulie Malignaggi on the David Haye-Tony Bellew undercard.
Eggington admits he’s never been one to watch his previous performances, or analyse fighting styles. He doesn’t even like watching boxing on the weekends for the most-part.
“The only way I can explain it is I can’t imagine a chef coming home from work and wanting to cook a fancy dinner,” Eggington laughs. “I’m not bothered about watching boxing at home.
“I enjoy watching, sometimes on a weekend I’ll think ‘I can’t wait for this one’ but other times my missus will say ‘ain’t the boxing on tonight?’ And I’ll say ‘yeah but so is Coronation Street…’.
“I’m not one of those that pays for all the pay-per-views, I’m a bit of a casual fan really. Some people love it and it helps them.
“As soon as I knew the outcome, there’s no chance I’m watching it back. I’m not interested in watching it. I know it’s odd but the most boxing I’ve ever watched was the contender series when I was 12 years old. I used to love that s**t I swear to God.
“I’ve been top of the bill and on PPV shows but it doesn’t really register with me, I’ve loved this and wanted to do this my whole life so I’m not really phased by it all and I certainly don’t need to watch fights back. It’s never affected me.”
Eggington is as rough as they come in the ring. He knows he’ll never be polished, but the confidence remains he’ll get to fight for an elusive world title at some point down the road.
After all, the plan when he turned professional was to show up on small-hall shows and play the journeyman part for his entire career.
For the best, it hasn’t worked out like that. Eggington has achieved way more than he ever thought was possible, winning British, Commonwealth and European titles along the way.
“When I turned pro I wanted to be a journeyman, I was all set to do that,” he adds. “I was never going to be a Mayweather and win 50 fights outright. It’s been rocky and there have been fights I shouldn’t have lost, but it’ll make for a great book one day.
“My career has been better than expected. When I won the Midlands title it was better than I expected. I was a kid with little amateur background, it was all juniors then I decided to turn over so I could earn some dough.
“If I could box like Canelo Alvarez tomorrow then I would. But that’s just not how it works. I’ll just keep on taking the opportunities presented to me.”
Sam Eggington vs Carlos Molina is live and FREE on Channel 5 from 10pm on Saturday May 22.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
