Ekow Essuman wants to test himself against the best welterweights on the planet after grinding out a tough, exciting win over Ben Vaughan in Birmingham last night.
Essuman, 21-1 (8 KOs), and Vaughan shared ten of the most uncompromising rounds of the year. Their welterweight fight started quickly and violently and only built in intensity as it went.
Vaughan, 10-1 (3 KOs), can be proud of the way he performed but Essuman’s experience and renowned stamina kicked in during the late rounds and the former British champion deserved the majority decision he was awarded.
“They they don’t call me ‘The Engine’ for no reason but, I told you, it’s
a Spectre model so I’m more like haunting people in the ring,” Essuman told Queensberry after the fight.
“I hit him with some shots and his eye closed up and I was thinking, ‘How can he still see me? How?’ But you know, it is what it is, so we kept it rocking.”
At the time, the uncharacteristically flat performance Essuman put in during his British and Commonwealth title fight with Harry Scarff last November looked like the signalling the beginning of the end of his time at championship level but his resurgence this year has been remarkable.
Rather than fading quietly away or attempting to cash out, Essuman decided to force his way back to the top of the domestic pile.
In July, he outlasted the undefeated Owen Cooper in an up and down thriller. After being dropped heavily in the ninth, he rallied to stop Cooper in the tenth and final round. Last night, he got the better of another hungry young fighter in Vaughan. At 35 years old, Essuman has forced himself through two fight of the year contenders and more than erased the memory of the disappointing night he endured against Scarff.
“It feels good but Frank [Warren, his promoter], you need to put me in there with the the top of the top lads, not these unbeaten prospects,” he said. “There’s no point me derailing people’s careers at the beginning. I can derail them whilst they’re at their best.
“I want that world title contender match. I want to push to the top. I said it two fights ago.”
When Essuman says that he wants to push for the top, he means the very top.
Essuman has targeted a shot at the man widely regarded as the best welterweight on the planet, IBF champion, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.
Beating Cooper and Vaughan isn’t enough to earn him a world title shot just yet, but it should be enough to snare him a major fight.
He was ranked extremely highly with the IBF before losing to Scarff but is still positioned inside the top ten with the WBO and that may make him an enticing prospect for one of his domestic rivals.
On his night, Essuman is a problem for any of the fighters currently campaigning in a deep British welterweight division and if he can get a meaningful victory over one of them, his world title dream will move much closer.
“He’s the one at the top, so he’s the name I’m going to call,” he said of Ennis.
“Whoever, but as long as they’re at the top. That’s the whole point. Yes, I’m a prizefighter but I’m not just fighting these young guns for the sake of fighting a young gun. I’m not a little gatekeeper. I’m moving on.”
John Evans has contributed to a number of well-known publications and websites for over a decade. You can follow John on X @John_Evans79
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