Shakan Pitters dominated the Ultimate Boxxer II tournament back in November and showcased his talent live on free-to-air TV.
Ultimate Boxxer recently announced the next tournament. It will take place in London on May 10th. UBIII will be broadcasted on BT Sport.
WBN caught up with the Ultimate Boxxer champion as Pitters readies himself to build on the triumph.
“It’s a great announcement to be working with BT. They are one of the biggest in TV and within sports as well, so it’s good for them to combine with BT now,” Pitters exclusively told World Boxing News.
“Ultimate Boxxer is great for boxers coming through like myself. It’s a great platform for them now on BT definitely. It’s going to get out to a wider audience and attract a lot more interest to a brilliant event and tournament.”
Since winning the UBII tournament, Pitters received a tremendous amount of praise. Most notably from trainer Dave Coldwell, as well as the thousands watching in the UK.
When asked about the prospects he has since UBII, Pitters responded by saying: “It gives great opportunities, not just in boxing but it just gives you that exposure and recognition as well.
“Winning something like this is going to get you on bigger platforms, gonna give you recognition in your home town. Not even your home town but also in places like London.”
The 10-0 champion noticed a lot more recognition when he attended DeGale vs. Eubank, he said: “Myself, I was at Eubank DeGale recently and a lot of people were genuinely coming up to me and wanting to know my story a bit more,” he explained. “So it’s humbling that a lot of people take their time or come up to me and say we’re following your journey.
“It’s this kind of event and platform, it brings that for these boxers. Now it’s these new boxers, the middleweights that have those opportunities.”
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Pitters fights in just over a week’s time, before coming back to London on the undercard of the tournament. It will be his first fight since winning the UBII title.
“Yeah I’m fighting this month in fact in the end of March. It will be at one of our local shows and basically get the rounds in myself as well. But its a fight at the end of the day I’ll take it seriously. It’s one that I’m going to make sure I win.
“Myself, my manager Jon Pegg and Paul Counihan my coach have done a great job of myself, so it’s more of a case of pushing and pursuing titles.”
“We’ve been getting great sparring in. We definitely want to finish with a title around my waist this year. If I haven’t got one around my waist we’re doing something wrong.”
BT Sport will broadcast the Ultimate Boxxer series live on TV and YouTube, starting on Friday 10th May from The O2.
Chandler Waller is a staff writer for World Boxing News. Follow Chandler on Twitter @ChandlerWaller
