Eggington vs. Mimoune EBU Title Clash Set for Crolla-Burns
By Terence Dooley
Birmingham’s Sam “The Savage” Eggington (21-2, 13 KOs) will defend his European welterweight title for the first time when he meets mandatory challenger Mohamed Mimoune (18-2, 2 early) on the undercard of Anthony Crolla versus Ricky Burns.
The fight will take at the Manchester Arena on October 7 and will present the 23-year-old with another learning fight as he bids to get into world title contention.
Currently rated at eight and seven by the WBC and IBF respectively, the former British and Commonwealth holder believes that he is learning new tricks after being soundly out-boxed when attempting to defend both titles against Bradley Skeete in March of last year.
“It is nice get the mandatory out of the way and nice to be in Manchester again—it is like my second base,” said Eggington, who won the vacant British title in the same arena courtesy of an eighth-round Technical Decision victory over Glenn Foot in July 2015.
“A come forward fighter is meat and drink for me, the type I enjoy, but fighters like Frankie Gavin (W RSF 8), Paul Malignaggi (W KO 8), Ceferino Rodriguez (W KO 10) and Mimoune are quite tricky so it is a good experience.”
Mimoune is in good form after posting wins over Nabil Krissi (W TKO 4), Damien Martin (W12) and Jussi Koivula (W12) to earn a crack at the belt. The 29-year-old has rattled off seven wins since losing to Alexandre Lepelley (L SD 8) in November 2013—his second defeat in the space of three contests after losing his ‘0’ to Kamal Mohamed (L 8) then regrouping with a win over Lyes Chaibi (W 6)—yet this will be only the second time he has boxed outside of his native France so the EBU-EU titlist will have it all to do against the reigning Champion.
Promoter Eddie Hearn also confirmed that Darfield’s Robbie Barrett (15-2-1, 1 early) will defend his British lightweight title against Newcastle’s Lewis Ritson (12-0, 6 KOs) on the same bill; former 2016 Olympians Josh Kelly (3-0, 2 KOs) and Joshua Buatsi (1-0, 1 stoppage) will also feature, opponents TBA.
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