FOR more than a decade, Sam Eggington has gladly gone toe to toe with anyone who’s fancied it.
With one exception.
“I was glad when Cello Renda retired,” he says. “He could really punch.”
Renda laughs at the memory of his sparring sessions with Eggington at the Eastside gym in Birmingham.
“We had some right old wars,” he says.
More than six years on from his last fight, Renda gives the impression he would do it all again tomorrow.
“I was watching one of my fights with my wife [Nicola] the other night and she was saying: ‘I’m glad you don’t do it anymore,’” says Renda.
“Nicola said she didn’t think she could stand it anymore, now we’ve got children.
“I said to her: ‘You never know. Never say never.’ I keep myself in shape.
“I stopped sparring a couple of years ago because I don’t want to take any more punishment, but I still run and I still hit the bags – and I still have my six pack.
“I’ve run marathons and half-marathons. I can’t keep still.”
Renda was an all-action pro who had an epic Prizefighter final, won a British title eliminator and claimed Southern Area honours.
He made his mark on an audience beyond the sport’s hardcore.
“Most weeks I seem to pop up on Facebook,” laughs the 39-year-old from Peterborough who had some memorable knockouts in his 29 wins (against 13 defeats and two draws).
“Every week it seems to be the anniversary of one of my wars. There were a lot of wars!”
Possibly most memorable of all was the Prizefighter final against Martin Murray in 2008 that promoter Barry Hearn said at the time was “Britain’s answer to [Marvin] Hagler-[Thomas] Hearns”.
Murray went on to challenge for world honours four times after toughing out a split points win at the York Hall, and though Renda didn’t reach those heights, his is still a real success story.
“I wasn’t a world champion and I didn’t earn a fortune from boxing,” he says, “but I’m happy – and that’s worth more than money.
“I have a lovely family and I look forward to Monday mornings. How many people can say that?”
The reason Renda looks forward to Monday mornings is the Boxing Futures charity he has been a part of since towards the end of his boxing career in 2018.
He was approached by businessmen Anthony York and Andy Burley and currently runs boxing and fitness classes in Peterborough, Cambridge and London.
“They came to me with the idea and we had a lot of meetings at the services on the A1 putting it all together,” says Cello.
“I work with people who have drink and drug problems and people who are struggling with mental health or are wheelchair-bound.
“We work with probation, psychiatric units, schools, colleges and universities.
“I coach and teach the staff as well.
“I’m choc-a-block. I’m in the gym every day. I work 12- to 14-hour days. I was in the gym at six this morning and I won’t leave until 8.30 tonight.
“I’m coaching all day every day. I must do 200 rounds on the pads every week, easy. It’s probably a lot more than that.
“I couldn’t work in an office. If I see a pen and paper and a laptop, I get a headache. I would rather be getting punched in the head. I need to be on the frontline.”
Renda says the frontline work in Boxing Futures is very rewarding.
“I’m helping to give people self-belief and change lives,” he says.
“I tell them how boxing turned my life around and how it can turn their life around as well.
“When I was at school, I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do – and then I found boxing.
“I walked into a gym at 15 years old and it changed my life.
“Boxing didn’t make me a lot of money. It gave me a lot more than money.”
A pro at 19, after only two amateur bouts that he won by knockout, Renda was always the most honest of fighters.
“I didn’t really know how the business works when I turned pro,” he says. “I just thought: ‘If you’re strong enough, you will be OK.’ I didn’t give a monkey’s who I fought.”
Proof of that is found on BoxRec.
In his first five fights Renda fought 2004 Athens Olympian Joey Vegas, and Ricardo Samms, a former top-class amateur from Nottingham.
Renda lost after having his moments against both. He rocked Vegas and dropped Samms.
That was the thing with Renda – he could always punch.
He started his pro career against 7-0 Mark Ellwood in Hull – and chinned him inside two rounds.
Renda went into every fight believing that his left hook always gave him a chance and, talking to him, you sense there are days when he is dying to throw it again.
“I miss the competition and I miss the buzz,” he says. “There’s no feeling like it, fighting in front of the cameras, the recognition you get, but I don’t miss the politics of it all.”
Mostly Renda gets recognised for being “the double-knockdown boxer.”
Footage of him and Paul Samuels hitting the deck simultaneously after both landing their left hooks during their fight in Stoke in November, 2009 has had millions of views on YouTube.
But Renda doesn’t want his own stable of fighters to be as fan-friendly as he was throughout his 14-year career.
He has a trainer’s license with the British Boxing Board of Control and is set to unveil his first professional in the next few weeks, George Juby.
The 30-year-old from Kings Lynn has had 20-plus amateur bouts – and won’t fight anything like Renda.
“I coach very differently to how I fight,” says Renda, who is the father of Arlo (nine), Aria (four) and Leo, aged 14 months.
“The spars at the gym are technical, thinking spars.
“They don’t leave the ring after every spar with a black eye, the way I did.
“I learned all this from real-life experiences, not from YouTube. I know what I’m talking about, because I’ve lived it myself.”
Towards the end of his 44-fight pro career, Renda realised it’s better to hit and not get hit, rather than take one to land one.
“He’s going to weigh around 11 stones and he’s 6ft, so he’s tall for the weight,” said Cello of Juby. “He’s sharp and fast. Good on his feet.
“I told him: ‘If you’re going to turn pro, do it now before it’s too late.’ He could have five years in the game.
“I’m not really looking for anyone else, but if there’s anyone out there looking for a trainer, I’m here.”
Peterborough has been without a stable of pro fighters since Gary DeRoux walked away a few years ago.
DeRoux, who set footballer-turned-footballer Curtis Woodhouse on the way to the British title, is in the record books as the only fighter from the city to win the British title, ripping the featherweight belt from Sean Murphy in an incredible five-round war in March 1991.
“If I was from a boxing city like Manchester or Sheffield, I’m sure I would have been British champion,” says Renda, who was on the brink of a shot after overpowering Sam Horton inside two rounds in an eliminator in Manchester in 2009.
“But I’ve got no regrets. I gave it everything and I would rather do what I’ve done and be happy than be a world champion and be unhappy.”
