The unbeaten Shakan Pitters Two years into his Pro career
Two years on from when the talented Shakan Pitters entered the professional ring the Birmingham Boxing Column looks back at his rise up the pro ranks. Pitters had a glittering amateur boxing career winning 2 Midlands titles a Birmingham title a Redditch box cup gold medal and being a two times national semi finalist. Shakan comes from a big boxing family with his father Colin Pitters who was a professional boxer in the 90’s and a trainer who trained the likes of Mathew Macklin, Franklin Gavin and many other pros. Shakans two brothers Anwar and Aundra also fought on the amateur scene fighting out of Small Heath ABC. But up until the age of 14 Shakan seemed destined to play pro football as he was playing for the West Bromwich Albion Academy, where he utilised his boxing training to help with his fitness. Pitters eventually took up the noble art due to seeing his father Colin fight on TV and seeing his older brothers in the gym. As a Amateur he started his boxing career properly with Paddy Farrell at Kingstanding’s Second City ABC where they sharpened his tools and corrected many mistakes. After a 2 year spell he left Second City to pursue his career with Paul Counihan and Louie Counihan with the plan to turn pro, Shakan won numerous titles at both clubs.
At 27 he got his professional licenced under the management of Jon Pegg and was trained by his mentor Paul Counihan at Eastside gym and started to fight in the Cruiserweight division. Shakan who is a towering opponent standing at 6 foot 6 won his first five fights on points with his first four coming at the Tommy Owens Promotions shows at Villa park. He then went 5 and 0 in his first arena show beating Elvis Dubes at the Black Country Boxing show at the Genting arena NEC Birmingham. Shakan then claimed his first stoppage in May of 2018 stopping Kent Kauppinen in the first round at Villa park on another Tommy Owens Promotions show. Shakan was then given his big chance to fight on a Matchroom show with the main events being shown live on Sky Sports. Shakan's fight against Imantas Davidaitis was streamed live on the Matchroom Facebook Chanel and was watched by millions of people all over the world as Pitters claimed another stoppage this time in the second round.
Shakan was now 7 fights undefeated and there was strong talk about him fighting for the vacant Cruiserweight Midlands area title, but his next 3 fights would define him and the Eastside gym mentality. Shakan dropped down to light heavyweight to fight on the Ultimate Boxer II against some of the best light heavyweights in the country. The Ultimate Boxer II is a prize-fighter type of format with the winner having to win 3 fights in one night to claim the golden robe and a share of the £50.000 prize money. Pitters went to the Indigo O2 arena London and took the highly talented completion apart, in his first fight he beat unbeaten fighter Sam Smith dropping him twice and breaking his nose winning on a unanimous decision, he then went on and stopped Gegorii Bacon in the second round. In the final of the tournament Pitters took on Dec Spelman, Pitters showed his boxing skills off scoring a unanimous decision dropping him once in the fight to win the golden robe and the ultimate boxer II title. These 3 amazing win made Pitters 10 and 0 and has propelled him up the boxing ranks to 10th in Britain. Shakan will be back in the ring on the Tommy Owens Promotions show at Villa park on the 29th March and then in April in London.
Dexter’s Thoughts
I have followed Shakan Pitters career from his debut at Villa Park in March 2017 and was the first reporter to interview him as a professional boxer. From the first time I saw him box I could see he was going places and I have had some great interviews with him with a lot of laughs before and after his fights.
In my first interview with him he expressed some of his goals that he would like to achieve in his boxing career. The first was to establish his name in the pro ranks, it is safe to say he has done that. In his second year he was looking to be on a televised show, well last year he was on the Matchroom show which was aired live on Sky sports with his fight being streamed live on Matchroom's Facebook Chanel, the ultimate boxer II was also televised on Spike TV and got him lots of publicity. He was also looking to have a Midlands area title in year 2 which could have happened but he chose to drop weight divisions and fight in the ultimate boxer and win it.
Pitters is smashing it at the moment and in his new weight division will be towering over his competition. He has a great style of boxing that suits his height and with his team of Paul “Soggy” Counihan, Louis Counihan and Jon Pegg his career is looking great. Shakan is now ranked in the top ten in Britain and in my opinion has moved beyond the Midlands area title and after a few more fights he should be looking to contest for the English or even the British.
The one thing I am sure of is that Shakan Pitters will become a champion in the next year or so, he it a former Bbcolumn boxer to watch and can see him being a future Bbcolumn "Hall of Famer. " I look forward to reporting on Shakan continuing rise up the ranks.