THOMAS ESSOMBA has been too used to losing. The Cameroonian hasnโt 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).
โItโs been a hard time, itโs been a very hard time,โ Essomba tells Boxing News. โI moved to Sheffield to get better training.
โIโm very fit. Iโm very confident for the fight. Very, very confident,โ he continued. โIt will be no easy fight but I have to win. Iโm 100 per cent sure that Iโm 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.
โWhen I fought Marc Leach, if I had the trainer I have right now, I should beat him very easily. Because Iโm in really, really good shape now. I believe that that shape will help me to beat anyone,โ Essomba said. โI 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 didnโt expect that. I know Marc Leach is goodโฆ 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. โOf 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[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. โHe helped me a lot.
โThe best way for me to be better was to move.โ
Essomba has also been helping Edwards with sparring. โHeโs 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.
Essombaโs journey through boxing has been trying. He started out at a simple gym in a small town in Cameroon. โBoxing is the only thing I know in my life. I started boxing when I was little and I didnโt have a chance to learn something else,โ he said. โWhen 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 itโs good for me to learn how to be strong.
โIf 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
โThe place where I was born, a small town, the club didnโt have material like gloves, like a bag, they donโt have material stuff,โ he added. โNo 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. โI was scared to go back because the problems became very, very bad. It was why my Olympics in 2012, I didnโt enjoy it,โ Essomba explained. โOur team, our federation said once someone loses in the competition theyโre supposed to go back straightaway and that made us scared. It was a very, very hard decision to be honest.
โYou leave all your family, all your friends. This country, when I first came I couldnโt say nothing in the language. It wasnโt my language. My first language is French. I didnโt 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. โIt was very strange for me. Everything was strange, everything was difficult,โ Essomba said. โI remember when I first moved there, I think it was in December, I remember I went to the town, I couldnโt see nobody. I started to cryโฆ In Cameroon thereโs parties everywhere, thereโs music everywhere but when I went to town here in Sunderland, oh my goodness, nobody. I will never forget that day.
โThe first year, second year was very, very hard for me.โ
Heโs moved to Sheffield for another new start. He believes he will reset his career. โI still believe I have big, big things coming,โ Essomba says. โI 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. Itโs coming back. Stay focused in training and I believe everything will be fine.โ