At the Skydome Coventry Hennessy Sports held their first show with fans since the lockdown ended (22.5.21). On the show were 4 of the Midlands finest know by the Bbcolumn as the ‘Fab 4’ you had ‘The Savage' Sam Eggington headlining the show with hard hitting Kaisee Benjamin, the talented Shakan Pitters and Coventry’s own River Wilson-Bent all on a packed undercard. Also, on the undercard you have Idris Virgo, Michael Hennessy jr, Steven McKenna, Tommy Welch and Brett McGinty.
‘The Savage' Wins WBC Silver Title.
Sam Eggington was the main event on this Hennessy Sports show with his fight being shown live on channel five. Eggington was taking on the current WBC Silver Middleweight champ Carlo Molina in a 12-round contest for this title which will give Eggington a WBC world ranking. Eggington weighed in 11 stone 4 with the champ Molina weighing in 11 stone 5.
It was a great first round by Eggington as he showed controlled pressure as he worked well to Molina’s body and head, Molina got some good shots off but this was Eggington’s round. Great jabbing by Eggington in the second as Molina got on the front foot and let his hands go, even round. Eggington got back on the front foot in the third and had Molina rocking with some big shots. Molina showed his world class quality but Eggington bossed the round. The fourth was a quite one with Eggington controlling the round with his jab.
Eggington used his jab well in the fifth again keeping it long with his jab and controlling the round, Molina seem like he was tiring in this round. Molina tried to slow the pace in the sixth round getting some good shots off but only in singles. Eggington used his jab well but his work rate had slowed with Molina edging the round. Eggington picked up the pace in the seventh with Molina matching him with good shots for part of the round, Eggington edged the round finishing the stronger. Great jabbing and straight one, two’s by Eggington at the start of the eighth as he controlled the round. Molina did have some joy in the middle part of the round but Eggington won this one with a strong ending.
Round nine was a back and forth one with both fighters getting good combinations off even round. Eggington picked his shots well going back to what he had did in the first working Molina’s head and body with Molina seemed to be feeling the pace. Eggington moved well and showed some great shot picking as he beat Molina to the punch to win the round. Molina poured the pressure on in the final round as Eggington moved and countered well. Molina banged in some big shots but Eggington was not going to be denied and fought fire with fire to the final bell.
All three judges scored the fight to Eggington with judge Guido Cavalleri having it 116 to 112, Fabians Guggenheim had it 119 to 109 and John Latham had it 117 to 111.
Myself I scored 118 to 112 in Eggington favour.
In the other fights the hard hitting Kaisee Benjamin has secured a shot at the British Welterweight title by stopping Martin Harkin who could not come out for the seventh round. In a hard-fought fight Benjamin started to get though with some big shot ending the sixth round by smashing in a sickening right hand body shot and then catching Harkin with a cracking right hand to the head just after the bell. Harkin went down but the ref didn’t deem it a knockdown Harkin then went back to his corner and could not come out for the seventh round.
Benjamin has now earned himself a British title shot against Chris Jenkins.
Shakan Pitters showed his class with a polished performance in a 8 round fight against a very game Jermaine Springer. Pitters was back to winning ways showing great movement and shot picking dropping Springer in the fourth before ref Kevin Parker stopped the fight in the fifth after Pitter let go a fantastic counter right hand to Springers head which was followed by a flurry of punches.
The home boy River Wilson-Bent also put on a outstanding performance taking his record to 9 without defeat in front of his Coventry fans. Wilson-Bent took unbeaten George Farrel's '0' stopping him in the seventh round defending his Middleweight Midlands area title as well. Wilson-Bent celebrated in front of his 300 fans that had brought tickets off him and will be now looking to move on to even bigger titles.
Also from Birmingham Idris Virgo took his tally to 10 wins and 1 draw beating veteran Journeyman Lewis Van Poetsch for the second time. Virgo came in 12 stone 10 for these 6 round fights winning every round.
Dexter’s Thought’s
What a great night of boxing it’s just a shame that more of it was not shown on terrestrial TV.
Sam Eggington showed that he is a world class level winning the WBC Middleweight silver belt. He has had to move up a weight to get that world ranked statuses and beating a very tough Mexican as well. Will Eggington win a world title? In my opinion it depends which world champ he is put up against. Does he deserve a world title shot? I’d say most definitely, he is a shining light of what you can do with will determination, heart and a great team around him. I look forward to seeing ‘The Savage' on the world scene.
Kaisee Benjamin showed that he is more than ready for the British challenge and I can’t wait to see him fight for the title. He has hung round the Midlands area scene to long and in my opinion should have already contested and won the British title already. I can see Benjamin going beyond the British scene and there may even be a world title in his future.
Shak is Back! I never had a doubt that Shackan would bounce back from that shock defeat. Pitters looked as shape as ever and I can either seeing him winning back his British crown or even surpassing that and going on the win European or even contest for world honors.
River Wilson-Bent put on a great display in his home town and showed he I ready for the step up. I think the next step has got to be the English title and I have very high hopes for this likable fighter.
Virgo beat Van Poetsch for the second time, he came in really heavy for this fight and fair play won ever round, but I would still like to see him take on a non-journeyman and show how good he actually is. The pantomime Villain of boxing has been on social media giving it '10' calling out the likes of Logan Paul and Tommy Fury, hopefully he can fight someone with a positive record instead of chasing YouTubers and fellow love Island contestants.