Sam Eggington to make history in Prizefighter
Stourbridge's Sam Eggington will make history in the next Prizefighter at Wolverhampton Civic Hall after a late dash into the starting line-up.
Birmingham's Nasser Al Harbi has been scrubbed from the line-up after failing to return home in time from his honeymoon for the pre-fight picture shoot.
So Eggington has been called up from reserve into the eight-man, one-night, three-rounds-a-fight tournament next Saturday night, live on Sky Sports.
Prizefighter returns to the Civic with a third instalment at welterweight after their sold-out debut at the venue last February, won by Adil Anwar at light welter.
And Eggington will become the youngest fighter ever to compete in the tournament when he makes the short journey from across the West Midlands to compete.
The 19-year-old eclipses Patrick Mendy by exactly six months and he won Prizefighter at super middleweight that night on 30 June 2010.
'Sam the Man' only has three points victories on his professional record since turning over last year, but enjoyed national success as an amateur.
Boxing for Warley ABC, he won Clubs for Young People and ABA Novice national titles and reached the semi-finals of the junior ABA tournament.
All came over the three, three minute rounds distance that he will call upon again and Eggington thinks unpaid fighters make the best Prizefighters.
He said: "Everyone asks me why I turned over so young, but I always wanted to turn professional. I am a late reserve, I have nothing to use.
"I feel like I can adapt well to different people, I do well against short stocky boxers and I do well against long-range people.
"I will be very excited on the night, purely because it is Prizefighter. I am always being praised for my work rate and what I do in the ring."
Despite the 'star overnight' status Prizefighter can provide, Eggington believes there's still work to be done even if he wins the tournament.
He said: "On top of the money and where winning Prizefighter can land you, being the youngest winner would be a prize in itself.
"It would boost my career but it wouldn't do what it could do for some of the others, who could get a bigger title.
"It couldn't do that for me, I would still have to do a few more fights."
