LEE Cutler remains eager to secure an immediate rematch with Sam Eggington, insisting that the controversial nature of their first encounter warrants another roll of the dice.
The pair locked horns in an absorbing spectacle back in April, only for a cut over Eggington’s right eye to abruptly halt proceedings following a bloody eighth round.
On the night, referee Mark Bates ruled that the injury had emerged from an accidental head clash, allowing Eggington, 36-9 (20 KOs), to claim a technical decision victory.
Replay footage of their fight, however, revealed that the cut had in fact been caused by an earlier punch from Cutler, 15-2 (7 KOs), whose team later launched an appeal to the WBC.
In response, the sanctioning body ordered an immediate rematch for Eggington’s WBC international strap, recognising that the result should not have been determined by the judges’ scorecards, but instead given as a stoppage victory in favour of Cutler.
Yet still, while there is clearly unfinished business between the two super-welterweight operators, Eggington has since rejected the potential for a second encounter.
Cutler, on the other hand, hopes that an opportunity to exact his revenge will arrive before long.
“If I knew it was going to be an eight-round fight, I would’ve emptied the tank a lot earlier,” the Bournemouth man, reflecting on their first fight, told Boxing News.
“But it was going exactly how I wanted [it to go] at the time. I was taking it out of him, I’d won the previous three rounds, and the fight was only going my way.
“I just feel like it’s taken a bit of momentum away [from his career]; I should’ve been pushing on to headline down in Bournemouth.
“[Eggington] says he’s not going to take the fight. I hope he does, because there’s enough of a story behind that fight for there to be a rematch, but we’ll see what happens.
“The only hard thing is not knowing exactly what’s next, so it’s just about keeping the motivation up in the gym and being ready for whatever does come.”
Should his rematch with Eggington fail to materialise, Cutler is then likely to enter a tune-up fight – albeit of a much lower profile – before turning his attention towards British honours.
For the vacant Lonsdale Belt at 154lbs, a clash between Sam Gilley and Ishmael Davis has been ordered to go to purse bids, with the contest expected to take place before the end of November.
A shot at the winner, then, could make sense for Cutler early next year, with the 29-year-old first looking to resume his activity sooner rather than later.
“I’ll be keeping a close eye on [Gilley vs Davies],” he admitted. “It’ll be nice to get a run-out before that, because I don’t know how soon they’ll run [the British title fight].
“So I want to get busy in the meantime, and then we’ll go from there.”
