Sam Eggington showed he still has plenty to offer as he handed out a relentless beating to Ashley Theophane who was stopped as he rose from a sixth-round knockdown in a scheduled super-welterweight ten-rounder on Mick Hennessy’s show at Redditch in Worcestershire.
Eggington was 13 years younger and looked significantly bigger. At 40, Theophane could not put a dent in the younger man and could not get out of the way enough. From the first round, Eggington just walked him down, hurting the Londoner to the body and then pounding away to head and body. Theophan was down in the second and the sixth and endured plenty of pain in between.
It was the first fight for Eggington, the former British and European welterweight champion, since he lost a narrow decision to Ted Cheeseman on the opening night of Matchroom’s Fight Camp in August.
“Back in August I felt I was hard done by, so I needed to come back with a good win and prove my point.” Eggington said. “As soon as we knew we were fighting Ashley, we knew he was tricky and hard to hit, so you go for the bigger target (the body). He is really good at tucking up, so they were hard to get through, but the ones that did get through I could feel were working.
“I’m quite happy to fight Ted Cheeseman in his back garden. I feel like I won the first fight, so why wouldn’t I go anywhere and box hm again? I’m not chasing anyone. I am quite happy to push on with my career without following people about and that has worked for me as of now.”
Eggington took command from midway through the first round and as early as the second round, the Londoner struggled to get off the ropes as Eggington hammered away. Near the end of the round, Eggington landed a left to the body that seemed to wind Theophane, who tried to fire back but was caught with a left-right that caught him off balance and sent him tumbling back into the ropes.
There was a similar start to the third, but Theophane fired back with a left-right that landed. Eggington shrugged it off, but after he landed again, Theophane came firing back with both hands, although he struggled to knock Eggington out of his stride.
The fourth looked a painful one for Theophane, as he was pounded throughout. There was little nuance to Eggington’s work and he forced Theophane back into the ropes, worked the body and then landed clubbing shots to the head.
Theophane did better at the start of the fifth, but Eggington soon regained control. The last minute of the round brought more pain for Theophane as he stopped moving and was directly in Eggington’s sights, as he was hurt again to the body and by the right to the head.
Referee John Latham looked like he was seeking an opportunity to stop it from the fourth round onwards. Eventually he got his chance at the end of the sixth round, when Theophane, who was barely throwing any punches back, was nailed by a vicious right to the body. He made it to his feet at nine, but Latham instantly waved it off, without complain, at 2:58 of the round.
Kaisee Benjamin made a successful defence of his Midlands Area welterweight title with a ten round points win over Ben Fields. Referee Victor Loughlin scored it 97-95.
Aaron McKenna extended his unbeaten record to 11 fights as Jordan Grannum was pulled out at the end of the second of a scheduled super-welterweight six-rounder, moments after he had dropped Grannum with a left hook to the body.
Stephen McKenna, the older of the Irish brothers, was given more work in his fight with MJ Hall than he had in his first five combined. McKenna started whaling away from the start in search of another quick victory, but it took until the fifth round of this welterweight six for Hall to crack and even then he was furious with referee Ian John Lewis’s stoppage at 1:54 of the round. Hall did not seem in particular trouble, but had taken a lot of shots.
Scott Welch, the son of former British heavyweight champion Scott, made a successful professional debut as he stopped Matt Gordon in the second round. Michael Hennessy Jr returned to winning ways with a six-round points win over Dale Arrowsmith, while Idris Virgo stayed unbeaten with a four-round points win over Kevin McCauley at middleweight.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.