BcB's Thomas Essomba put on an outstanding display of boxing with just a weeks notice on the Matchroom show live on Sky Sports (17,10,20). Essomba who had only fought a few weeks ago against Sunny Edwards took on the talented unbeaten former British Super Bantamweight champion Thomas Patrick Ward (29-0). The fight was over 10 three minute rounds with Ward coming in 8 stone 11 and Essomba coming in 8 stone 12.
The first three rounds were close with both fighters getting good shots off as they just felt each other out. In the forth Essomba had Ward in trouble with some cracking left hooks that earned him the round. Good pressure by Ward in the fifth with Essomba battling hard using that great left hook. The sixth was a close round with Ward showing a great work rate but Essomba continued to bang in big shots to edge the round.
The seventh was the telling round when there was a nasty accidental clash of heads with Ward coming off worse with a nasty cut above his left eye, this gave Essomba a lot of encouragement as he really put it on Ward. The ref called the doctor over at the start of the eighth to look at Wards cut, the doctor deemed he could continue but Ward knew the fight could be stopped at any point. Essomba picked his shots well and banged in great combinations, Ward put a lot of pressure on Essomba but missed a lot. At the start of the ninth the ref got the doctor to look at Wards cut again and deemed he could not continue. The fight was then put in the hands of the judges with all of them having different verdicts. Judge Terry O’Connor had it 88 to 84 Ward, Marcus McDonnell had it 88 to 85 Essomba and Michael Alexander scored it 86 to 86 which made it a technical draw, Myself I had it 88 to 85 Essomba.
Dexter’s Thoughts
I honestly can not believe this result, what did Essomba have to do to get the win. Ward was 29 and 0 and his team probably thought that Essomba would be a good test but not on Wards level, how wrong they were. Essomba put on a great performance and was on top before the cut occurred, I could not see how Michael Alexander had it even and I really don’t know what fight Terry O’Connor was watching to score it to Ward. Anyone in boxing will know that Ward is very lucky to still be unbeaten and I feel bad for Essomba as he put the work in and won the fight clearly to most sane people. Terry O’Connor is notorious for giving dodgy decisions and I think the powers that be need to look at him and see if he is worthy of judging pro boxing.