Crowd-pleaser Sam ‘The Savage’ Eggington 31-7 (18) was one half of one of the fights of the year when he earned a 12-round split decision victory over Bilel Jkitou 15-1 (6) at the Skydome in Coventry, England on Friday night.
The thrilling contest for the WBC Siler middleweight title was fought almost exclusively at close quarters with Eggington abandoning his height and reach advantages to go to war on the inside.
The 27-year-old Eggington from Smethwick in the West Midlands was the busier of the two but Frenchman Jkitou, 29, appeared the bigger puncher of the two despite his low knockout ratio.
The fight featured high quality two-way action in the first half with little to separate the fighters in the early going.
Eggington was cut over the right eye in the mid-rounds but the injury didn’t slow him down as he continued to outpunch the tiring Jkitou in the back half of the fight.
When the dust settled, judge Christophe Fernandez awarded the fight to Jkitou 116-112 but was overruled by judges John Latham and Alexander Walter who gave the fight to Eggington by scores of 117-112 and 117-111 respectively.
“I think I made harder work of it than I should of,” said Eggington. “I should have boxed more, I was caught between boxing and having a war.
“I thought a split [decision] was a bit harsh. I thought he won a few rounds, more than he should have done.
“I reverted to what I know and probably shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t be standing there with a short stocky kid.
“I probably could have made easier work of it but I didn’t, we got the win and we move on.”
Before the bout Eggington said he didn’t know much about Jkitou other than he was strong and awkward but admitted it was a fight he couldn’t afford to lose.
“He’s unbeaten at the moment, that’s dangerous enough for me. Who he’s fought, I don’t think he’s fought a crazy level of opponent, but we’ll find out. These are the sort of things I get up for,” Eggington told The Mirror.
“He could be solid or he might not be, we’ll find out.
“You just want the ‘w’. I do want to make a statement, this kid is unbeaten and I need to show people he wasn’t good enough.
“I’m on a bit of a wave at the minute, I’ve picked up a few good wins and I’m just hungry to keep that going.”
Eggington, who has now had two fights at 160-pounds since moving up from junior middleweight this year, sees the Roy Jones Jr-trained Chris Eubank Jr 30-2 (22) as a potential future opponent.
“The Eubank fight was offered to me, there just wasn’t enough money there,” he said.
“It was not long after my last fight. They offered us a purse, we asked for a bit more and they didn’t even come back, so they must have had someone else lined up who was cheaper.
“He’s a big middleweight, super-middle sometimes, and I just wanted the money to be worth the fight, but they didn’t come back to us.
“If they had offered fair money, would I have taken the fight? One hundred per cent. It just didn’t happen.
“I’m not going to undersell myself for anything. Boxing is hard enough as it is.
“I don’t see why the fight can’t happen. It’s not a fight I would turn down given the right offer, I’d take him on.”
