Thomas Essomba: ‘The hope is back’

Thomas Essomba

THOMAS ESSOMBA has been too used to losing. The Cameroonian hasnโ€™t won a fight since 2019. But that, he insists, is going to change. He has moved to a new gym, joining Grant Smith in Sheffield and he is going into a winnable contest against Michael Nielsen in Denmark on Saturday (April 9).

โ€œItโ€™s been a hard time, itโ€™s been a very hard time,โ€ Essomba tells Boxing News. โ€œI moved to Sheffield to get better training.

โ€œIโ€™m very fit. Iโ€™m very confident for the fight. Very, very confident,โ€ he continued. โ€œIt will be no easy fight but I have to win. Iโ€™m 100 per cent sure that Iโ€™m going to win.โ€

Though he might not have won his last three contests, Essomba has been fighting the very best in Britain. He lost a 12-round decision to Sunny Edwards, who went on to become the IBF belt-holder. He drew with Thomas Patrick Ward in a creditable performance and lost a decision to Marc Leach, now the British champion, last year.

โ€œWhen I fought Marc Leach, if I had the trainer I have right now, I should beat him very easily. Because Iโ€™m in really, really good shape now. I believe that that shape will help me to beat anyone,โ€ Essomba said. โ€œI think my fight was a bit harder than that fight [against Chris Bourke] to be honest. When I watched that fight it was so easy for him, I didnโ€™t expect that. I know Marc Leach is goodโ€ฆ You have to make him miss, if he misses I think he will be more easy for you to box.โ€

He is open to that rematch. โ€œOf course, if you have an opportunity I will have it, I will take it. No problem for that,โ€ he added.

It was a former opponent, Sunny Edwards, who has helped Essomba more than any other. He manages him and brought him to trainer Grant Smith. โ€œ[Sunny] was the first person I asked if it was possible to find me someone for training, I definitely wanted to move,โ€ Thomas said. โ€œHe helped me a lot.

โ€œThe best way for me to be better was to move.โ€

Essomba has also been helping Edwards with sparring. โ€œHeโ€™s a very talented boxer, very, very talented, and to train with someone like him, I think every single time I have sparring that gives me more motivation to do better,โ€ he said.

Essombaโ€™s journey through boxing has been trying. He started out at a simple gym in a small town in Cameroon. โ€œBoxing is the only thing I know in my life. I started boxing when I was little and I didnโ€™t have a chance to learn something else,โ€ he said. โ€œWhen I went in the boxing gym, I saw a guy who was little like me, he was training. Before that I was playing football. I was little but I was very good at football. So when I went to the gym for me in my mind I said itโ€™s good for me to learn how to be strong.

โ€œIf someone hurts me I can defend myself. So when I started boxing it was just for me to learn how to defend myself so I remember after two weeksโ€™ time the guy who took me there stopped coming to the gym. Me, I continued, because I definitely wanted to learn how to be strong. A couple of months later I started to be very interested, the coach started to like me and said boxing can change my life.โ€

โ€œThe place where I was born, a small town, the club didnโ€™t have material like gloves, like a bag, they donโ€™t have material stuff,โ€ he added. โ€œNo punching bag, no gloves, no ring. It was difficult but you just deal with it. The first time I saw a ring was when I did the national competition. That was the first time I was in a ring. Every time I was sparring it was just on the floor.โ€

He was a successful amateur, boxing for Cameroon at two editions of the Olympic Games. After London 2012 he stayed in the UK. โ€œI was scared to go back because the problems became very, very bad. It was why my Olympics in 2012, I didnโ€™t enjoy it,โ€ Essomba explained. โ€œOur team, our federation said once someone loses in the competition theyโ€™re supposed to go back straightaway and that made us scared. It was a very, very hard decision to be honest.

โ€œYou leave all your family, all your friends. This country, when I first came I couldnโ€™t say nothing in the language. It wasnโ€™t my language. My first language is French. I didnโ€™t know nothing in English so it was a very difficult decision when we took it.โ€

He based himself in Sunderland, assisted by people who helped him learn English and Phil Jeffries, one of his first managers. โ€œIt was very strange for me. Everything was strange, everything was difficult,โ€ Essomba said. โ€œI remember when I first moved there, I think it was in December, I remember I went to the town, I couldnโ€™t see nobody. I started to cryโ€ฆ In Cameroon thereโ€™s parties everywhere, thereโ€™s music everywhere but when I went to town here in Sunderland, oh my goodness, nobody. I will never forget that day.

โ€œThe first year, second year was very, very hard for me.โ€

Heโ€™s moved to Sheffield for another new start. He believes he will reset his career. โ€œI still believe I have big, big things coming,โ€ Essomba says. โ€œI believe that anyone who comes in front of me right now, I will beat him. Because that hope. From 2015, 2016, I lost hope. I started to lose hope because it was very difficult. Right now my hope is coming back. Itโ€™s coming back. Stay focused in training and I believe everything will be fine.โ€

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