By Shaun Brown
BRITISH Super Featherweight champion Sam Bowen (13-0, 9 KOs) is relishing the opportunity of some television exposure tomorrow night.
The 26-year-old from Ibstock faces Argentina’s Horacio Cabral for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental title at 130lbs but more importantly he will fight on Frank Warren’s card from Leicester Arena live on BT Sport.
Television time is something that has been lacking in Bowen’s career to date, but he is aiming to show the public what all the fuss has been about on the small hall shows that he has appeared on. And despite it being broadcast on YouTube many would not have seen Bowen’s British title success, when stopping Maxi Hughes (TKO 8) back in April.
“It was a great feeling winning the belt,” said Bowen who spoke to Boxing Scene earlier this week.
“It weren’t how we wanted to win it. Ideally wanted to win it on a big TV show. I was mandatory to box Zelfa Barrett the December before for the English (title) so the route we took weren’t the route we thought we were actually going to go down. We were never going to turn a British shot down and I’m glad I got the win. I didn’t go for the stoppage, it just came. A great feeling. Winning that British title has got me these opportunities with Frank Warren. I feel that now this has been deserved. It’s going to be good and I can show everyone what I’m about and it’s great publicity.”
The likelihood is that should Bowen come through unscathed against Cabral tomorrow night he will make the maiden defence of his British title in December against Scotland’s Ronnie Clark. The colourful Scot upset the applecart in February winning a majority decision verdict against the slick Zelfa Barrett. A victory that surprised many and showed how dangerous Clark can be if he is being overlooked.
“I never get complacent for a fight,” said Bowen.
“I always train 200% for a fight and I never go in the ring taking things for granted because that’s how people do lose and get knocked out. I never do that. I treat each fight the same whether it’s for a title or not. These are dangerous, good opponents so you can’t take them for granted at all. I don’t know what his (Barrett’s) preparation or mindset for the fight was but I won’t take him (Clark) for granted. He’s shown what he can do, he can beat unbeaten good lads like Barrett.
“I haven’t watched overly that much of Clark yet. I’m expecting a good fight. He’s obviously a game lad to beat Barrett who is no mug himself. I’m prepared for a hard fight. That’s what I want. I want tough fights. No point in having fights against people that I’m going to blow out in a few rounds. I’m very confident in myself. I believe in my abilities and he’s going to have to be a very good, tough lad to get past me. I’m not worried at all. I want to concentrate on this fight and then I’ll do the research on him because I don’t want to look too far in front because I’ve got a job to do on Saturday.”
Bowen, nicknamed ‘Bullet’, has had his name championed here, there and everywhere by his trainer and manager Carl Greaves. Greaves told anyone who would listen that Bowen would be a British champion and will go on to achieve even greater accolades. So far, so good. However, there is an underlying concern that may derail any future glories. Bowen still works full-time building digger engines for Caterpillar and at the turn of the year plans to speak to Greaves about looking to resolve an issue that does have an impact on him physically. Going full-time is a much-needed option for Bowen who recently signed a promotional deal with Frank Warren.
“It’s definitely difficult,” he said of his working and fighting juggling act.
“I’ve got this week off. For that Maxi Hughes fight I worked all the way up to the Thursday and then had the Friday off for the weigh-in and that was really, really tiring on my body. I don’t feel like I performed 100% in that fight purely down to I had no rest that week and I was knackered.
“You ask anyone that does a 40+ hour week, they’d be tired regardless if they had to go and box for a title. I have this week off. I struggle massively with it. I can’t keep doing what I’m doing because it’s taxing on my body. I do the training that anyone would do but my body doesn’t get the rest that it requires so I’m always tired. For example, if I went to the gym on a Wednesday and sparred someone, it would be better if I had that little bit of rest during the day rather than having worked all day.
“I’ll be on form on Saturday but like I say I’ll be even better if I had that full-time training where I could train that little bit more, get that bit more rest and get the benefits from that.”
Another benefit to Bowen’s career has been his decision to join Twitter recently - @BulletBowen. It’s something of a necessity for the modern-day fighter. It has its benefits, but it also has its drawbacks. Bowen, now working with Warren, knows that a good social media profile can only add to his fanbase, exposure and hopefully ensures a few more bums on seats for his fights.
“Because I’m fighting on a Warren show it’s best to let people know. I ain’t like some people that put a billion things on there. Just relevant retweets from me and stuff to keep people informed as to what’s going on. I’ve had a look and it’s just random rubbish that some people put on there. Mine will stay relevant to me and that will be it.”
Twitter @sbrown2pt0