Littlechild: Pro game is getting a banger!

Littlechild at the weekend with Farrell (left) and other 2nd City members

EVERY fan loves a banger, those fighters who carry true explosive power.

They spell excitement. They can turn a fight on its head with a single concussive shot.

And fans look set to be guaranteed edge-of-the-seat entertainment when Sam Littlechild turns over this winter.

The 24-year-old, a product of Paddy Farrell’s acclaimed Kingstanding 2nd City gym, is, quite simply, a master blaster.

He showed that again at top tournament the Haringey Cup, staged at Alexandra Palace over the weekend. Sam, from Tamworth, faced Irishman Kyle Roch in the cruiserweight semis and demolished the lad with a body shot which he may still be feeling.

As Paddy Farrell, who will guide the KO artist in the paid ranks, put it: “He folded like a deckchair!”

In the final, Sam lost on a 3-2 split decision to four times national champ Hasnan Ali from East London Boxing Academy. He felt hard done by.

Sam has taken the amateur game by the scruff of the neck – and the statistics are simply stunning. He’s won 21 of 25 and has now stopped five opponents this year alone.

Earlier this year, he won the development championships – and three of the five opponents he faced in that tournament failed to make it to the final bell.

The message to those attending Sam’s professional fights is clear. Don’t blink!

“That’s why I don’t want people to miss my fights,” said Sam, who, by day, works with Paddy as a scaffolder. “I’m very explosive and I’m only just getting my man-strength.

“I look for the stoppage. A lot of people have told me my style is more suited to the pros and I believe I’ll do well.”

In the unpaid ranks, Sam has moved between cruiser and light-heavy: as a professional he’ll compete in the latter category.

He added: “I’m short for a cruiser, but, with my style, I think that helps. I think I did really well at the weekend. I stopped the Irishman in the second and cut his eye.

“I thought I won the final, but they gave it to him.”

Paddy Farrell’s verdict? “The man is a banger who can box,” he told me.

Around October this year, if you hear a dull rumble and feel the ground beneath your feet shake, don’t worry.

It’s not an earthquake, it’s Sam Littlechild’s pro debut.