IT has been a long road through the murky waters of professional boxing for Brighton middleweight, Nicky Jenman. Sixteen years in fact.
At the tender age of eight, a young Jenman became a junior boxer with a dream, not for a world title, although it would have been nice; Jenman wanted to make his family proud.
Turning professional back in 2010 he readily admits, even now, that the dream was “to challenge for the Southern Area title, winning it would be a bonus”. Well, he’s surpassed that.
A scaffolder by day, the middleweight father of one was recently added to the March 24 show on which Frankie Gavin would have fought Bethuel Ushona. The South Coast southpaw was afforded a chief support slot against local favourite, Andrew Robinson for an IBO Continental strap. Win it, then doors could be open for the 31-year-old.
“It’s bizarre because two years ago I put a status [on Facebook after his Southern Area title victory against Nathan Graham] saying what a dream it would be to challenge for and even win an IBO title,” began Nick. “Now look what’s happened and I really can’t wait, and to be upgraded to the main event, it’s what dreams are made of.
“I’m hungry for it and it is what I have been waiting for; no amount of money can take this away from me.
“It’s like, when I turned over six years ago, I said to my dad that I wanted to be able to fight for the Area title, that was the dream, not win it, just to challenge for it.
“Then they introduced the Masters and Challenge belts, so I went and won a few of those as well and now it’s the big one, this is like my world title.
“However, I know that, if I win this, then it opens up a lot of options for me.”
In defeating Graham and winning the title, Jenman, who has traded leather with some of the bigger names in British middleweight boxing in Jack Arnfield and Tommy Langford, has had a mixed run whilst knocking off a few unbeaten records including impressive stoppages successes against Tey Lynn Jones and Midlands prospect, Tom Stokes.
“To be fair, I’d seen his [Stokes] rankings before he fought me and he wasn’t someone I was looking at to fight,” continued Nick.
“He’s not a bad lad though, I just caught him early which obviously worked for me and, to be fair, the shot he took, he was gone.
“We did speak straight afterwards, and again a few weeks later, and we wished each other the best for our respective careers.”
The defeat of Stokes was the second of three stoppage wins Jenman has picked up in his last four outings, his last fight, just a few weeks ago, being a four round points win over Iain Jackson in Portsmouth.
Robinson will be a challenge, he’s aware of that but knows he’s going into a winnable contest for which the prize, to Jenman at least, is worth more than money.
“Challenging for the Southern Area title was a dream to me so getting a chance to win the IBO leaves me speechless,” added Nick.
“Words can’t describe this feeling and it’s a winnable fight. Don’t get me wrong though, this kid is tough, a very hard opponent.
“My work rate and fitness however is through the roof and I know that, going in there in a few weeks’ time, I have to be an annoying, busy bee, frustrate him, and not stand there and trade punches with him.
“If I do that, then I believe I can win this.”
Nick Jenman opposes Andrew Robinson for the IBO continental middleweight title at the Genting Arena on March 24, co-support comes from Craig Morris against Andy Keates for the IBO continental welterweight title along with two Area title contests and a stacked undercard.
