Tommy Ward has been handed a new opponent for his first fight of 2020 – and it’s a familiar and dangerous figure.
The unbeaten 26-year-old will now face former English bantamweight champion Thomas Essomba (pictured) this Saturday after his Mexican opponent, Jose Martin Garcia, was ruled out of the October 17 spectacular.
It promises to be an intriguing clash between two former Co Durham neighbours on the undercard of the big Matchroom event headlined by Lewis Ritson v Miguel Vazquez and Savannah Marshall v Hannah Rankin, which will go ahead at the East of England Arena in Peterborough.
Ward’s coach Neil Fannan says the camp have maximum respect for the 33-year-old, who has enjoyed a very productive last year or so.
“It’s disappointing not to be fighting Garcia who is in the WBO’s top 15 and looked a handful,” Fannan told punch-lines. “You saw when he beat Jesse Hernandez in America last year that the better the opponent the better Tommy performs.
“Matchroom tried to get a sub from Madrid but Spain have shut Madrid down. Thomas though is a very good fighter who boxed quite recently.
“He seems to give everyone a hard night and pulls off upsets, but for all he’s been in some big fights, I’m not sure he’s fought anyone of Tommy’s pedigree.”
The word upset, used by the Hartlepool coach, is very pertinent here.
Essomba has absolutely no fears about occupying the stool in the away corner.
The former Olympian won the Commonwealth flyweight title in only his sixth contest when the then Sunderland star took apart Sheffield’s Waleed Din in Rotherham to become the Commonwealth flyweight champion.
Since then, the Cameroon-born boxer has moved on from the Phil Jeffries stable and is now based in the West Midlands under the management of Errol Johnson.
He won the English bantamweight title two and a half years ago when he knocked out Louis Norman at Leicester’s King Power and made an unsuccessful bid for the Commonwealth bantamweight crown when he lost to Lee McGregor in London.
Arguably his finest hour came in Liverpool last August when he ended Matchroom star Sean McGoldrick’s 100 per cent record with a convincing points victory to take the WBA’s continental bantam belt.
He was at it again just a few months later when he put a halt to Kazakhstan’s stoppage machine Iskander Kharsan with a third-round success on his travels in Almaty.
Last time out, he was unable to complete a hat-trick of unbeaten scalps when he was second best to Sunny Edwards at the end of August for the IBF International super-flyweight title, losing on points at the BT Sport Studios in Stratford.
But the boxer with a 10-5 record won’t be taken lightly in Peterborough and can’t be.
Ward, managed expertly by Dave Garside, has reeled off 29 straight victories with the NE Security-sponsored talent is in the top 15 of three world governing bodies, three (WBO), seven (IBF) and 14 (WBC).
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Mark Robinson/ Matchroom
