Thomas Essomba’s mouth-watering showdown with Louis Norman in Leicester has been upgraded to an English title fight.
The gifted star had been matched with the 24-year-old prospect over six rounds at the King Power Stadium on Friday, March 2.
But now promoter Carl Greaves has announced that the Leicester v Sunderland match will now be over 10 rounds AND for the English bantamweight title.
Essomba has not fought since February last year when he relinquished his Commonwealth title to unbeaten Welshman Jay Harris at the York Hall, live on BoxNation.
The Commonwealth belt was the only major title he could contest – the 30-year-old having claimed asylum in Britain in 2012 after representing Cameroon at the Olympic Games in London.
Essomba though has now been a UK resident for over five years and the adopted Wearsider will look to follow in the ring steps of Glenn Foot by bringing the English title to Sunderland.
The former Phil Jeffries boxer has lost only twice as a professional, both at the top level.
He was outpointed by Iain Butcher in Edinburgh in a non-title 10 rounder in May 2016 after the Scot failed to make the championship weight, then came the Commonwealth loss to the excellent Harris.
Norman has won 12 of his 17 contests and has made unsuccessful challenges for the English and British flyweight belts.
The Shepshed fighter ended a run of three straight defeats last September when outpointing George Brennan over six rounds in Leicester.
Words: Roy Kelly
