Is Eggington set to box in Kazakhstan?

Sam Eggington listens to Jon Pegg at Eastside gym

SAM Eggington, the marauding, crowd-pleasing warrior of British boxing, is considering his options after being presented with two possible contests many, many miles from home.

Negotiations are underway for the Stourbridge Savage to box in Toronto, with the WBO international light-middleweight belt on the line.

But, in a surprise twist, the chance of boxing in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, has surfaced. The bout remains shrouded in mystery, with Sam’s Eastside gym team remaining tight-lipped over opponent or promoter.

Manager Jon Pegg admitted: “Canada or Kazakhstan, those are our options.”

To date the farthest Eggington has travelled during a title laden, 12 year career is Newcastle, Australia – and that didn’t end well.

The 30-year-old missed his family and looked below par in losing his IBO word light-middleweight title to Dennis Hogan.

While Kazakhstan is a ring riddle, more is known about the Toronto, Canada, talks.

Eggington would face unbeaten Sukhdeep King Bhatti, from India, but based in Canada.

Bhatti, aged 31, is an unknown quantity, but can evidently bang. He’s won all 18 pro contest, eight by stoppage, collected an IBF international belt, but has never faced an opponent in Eggington’s class.

Sam has collected honours at British, European and world level. His career has featured some of the most bruising, breath-taking wars in recent domestic boxing history.

He has been in the trenches many times, Bhatti has not.

In a way, Bhatti’s record mirrors that of Southampton’s Joe Pigford who had scored a string of sensational KOs before being destroyed by Eggington.

“San has shown he will do a number on people at Pigford’s level,” said manager Jon Pegg. “But at world level it’s a hard fight. And, at this stage in his career, I don’t want Sam to have hard fights.”

Sam, himself, had admitted his incredible career is nearing the end. Some believed he’d decide to bow out after being outpointed by Abass Baraou for the European title in March.

After that fight he told me: “I’ve always said when you start thinking about when to get out it’s time to get out.

“I’m getting tarred with a brush. People have a perception that I’m here to make the numbers up and I think that’s getting through to the judges. I can’t shake that off.

“You sit back and think, ‘I can’t keep going through this s***’.  People think I do this because I can’t do anything else, but I can do other things. I do this because I love it.”