After coming through a hard night against Nigeria’s Abolaji Rasheed to win the Commonwealth middleweight belt, Sheffield’s Sam Sheedy is on the hunt for a big-name opponent.
In a tougher than expected contest, Sheffield’s Sheedy, 18-2 (4), outpointed his spirited opponent to claim the vacant title in his home city’s Bramall Lane venue on April 28th.
With his first major title in the bag – after previous contentious losses for English and British honours – ‘Speedy’ says he has learned from the experience, and is now hoping to add more belts to his collection.
“I learnt to stick to a plan and don’t try to please the crowd,” reflected Sheedy on the Abolaji tussle. “I wanted to wipe him out in the first few rounds because I thought that’s what I could do; I thought I was good enough and strong enough to. With the big weight difference at the weigh-in and with what I’ve been doing in sparring, I thought ‘I’m not going to have a problem with this kid’, which I didn’t. My plan for the first three rounds was to wipe him out, then rounds four to eight I lost my way a bit, and then the last four I started boxing and moving again. I did underestimate him a bit, and didn’t think he’d be as good as he was, but that was irrelevant because I was always going to win that fight even if I was fighting King Kong. I was always going to win; it was just about the fashion I was going to win. I found out he was better than I thought he was though, so in that respect I did underestimate him.
“I’d like to box for another title now, maybe the European title if I could. I want some money fights, and I want a title. Tommy Langford isn’t interested in having a rematch [Sheedy lost a split decision verdict to Langford for the British title in November 2016]. I think he wants an easy fight and, fair enough, he’s not going to get an easy night with me, is he? I love the Brian Rose fight; I think me and Brian is a great fight. Brian’s the name, I’ve got the belt and he’s never won a Commonwealth title before, so I think that’s a great fight. I also like the Conrad Cummings fight for the WBO European, but it’s what makes sense. It’s got to pay; I need to be getting some wages.
“So, you’ve got Conrad Cummings which would give me another belt; Brian Rose gives me a name. Either option would be great for me.”
