In a polished performance at Liverpool’s Devonshire House Hotel, the Sheffield fighter outgunned former English welterweight champ Little – who entered the contest unbeaten in 15 bouts – to take a points verdict, and now finds himself in pole position for a shot at English or British honours.
“I’m always confident ahead of a fight, but this was the first time I’ve had doubts because he was an English champion and unbeaten,” explained Sam, who has lost just one fight in 10 outings. “And when I boxed Nathan Brough [Sam lost a previous attempt at the Central Area title against Brough in December 2014], I watched Adam on the show and he was a good, classy boxer.
“It was a tough fight but by rounds six and seven I thought I was controlling it well. He caught me with a shot in one of those rounds, my nose started bleeding and that encouraged him. But I think I came on strong at the end of the fight. When it went to points, with me being the away fighter, I thought they’d never give it to me but Howard Foster was the referee and was judging it, and he’s one of the top refs in the UK. I thought I’d won, as did my corner, and it was the best feeling ever.
“Winning the belt at the second attempt is a dream come true, and I’ve not put it down since. Because Adam was English welterweight champ he was already ranked highly, so it’s shot me right up the rankings. I’d love a shot at the English, Commonwealth or British, and I’d defend the Central Area title too. I’ll speak to Dennis and see what direction he wants to take me.”
“Sam is one of the nicest kids I’ve met,” stated Hobson. “He’s got angelic looks and you think ‘he’s never a boxer’ but you can’t judge a book by its cover. He’s an intelligent kid and he loves the sport. He fell short before but he was up against a good pedigree kid in Adam Little and he worked his socks off. I’m so pleased for him because the Central Area title is a springboard onto bigger things. Overnight he’ll become a better boxer because he’s won something.
“Sam and his trainer are great people to work with, and hopefully this is just the start for them. He’s fought a few times away from home so we’d like to him to fight on a home show because he’s such a popular kid. I’ll be looking at different titles for him. It’s another title in our stable and hopefully he’ll defend it in the next few months, if not we’ll move onto something different. And I’m not bad at getting boxers title shots.”
