Eggington: the REAL Rocky Balboa story
Sam Eggington…back in action on March 30
AS Creed III hits cinema screens, Sam Eggington insists his own “Rocky” story isn’t over yet, writes Matt Bozeat.
The story of the teenager who wanted to be a journeyman and became a champion instead would make a good movie – and Eggington’s manager and coach could make it.
Jon Pegg, head of the Birmingham’s Eastside gym, is an award-winning film maker and trade publication Boxing News placed his 2009 short “The Wait” in their top 50 boxing movies a few years ago.
The Wait is about a group of journeymen waiting to fight and that was Eggington’s ambition when he wandered into the Eastside gym as a skinny teenager.
Pegg convinced him he could be a champion and a decade on, Eggington has won British, Commonwealth, European and IBO world honours in his 40-fight pro career. He is known as one of British boxing’s most exciting fighters.
Eggington was out of sorts when losing his IBO light-middleweight title to Dennis Hogan in Australia last October and, at 29years-old, he is back in action on the opening night of the Excelsior Sporting Club in Cannock on Thursday, March 30.
He is set to fight over eight rounds and said: “Just give me half a chance and I will win some more belts.
“I still love boxing. I like the fighting, the training. I like it between the ninth and 12th rounds when it’s going back and forth.
“I have some skill, but when it goes past six rounds, that’s when I really shine. That’s what I love, when your eyes are black and your hands hurt and it’s time to go to work.”
Jon Pegg…making waves as a film-maker
Eggington was spotted smiling as he and Ted Cheeseman crashed punches off each other in the closing rounds of their 2020 fight of the year.
But Sam was not his marauding self when defending his IBO super-welterweight title against Dennis Hogan in Australia last October.
Pegg said: “I knew after two rounds Sam wasn’t going to win. I knew he didn’t want to be there.
“Sam was homesick. He couldn’t talk to his kids and when Sam isn’t switched on mentally, he isn’t the same fighter.”
Eggington is known as a ferocious fighting machine who was recorded throwing 1,317 punches at Bilel Jikitou (15-0) in Coventry in September, 2021.
That fight earned Eggington his second Fight-of-the-Year award and he’s ready for more wars, saying: “Give me a ring and if the purse and weight are good, I’ll be there and I will give anyone a tough 12 rounds – or less.”