BoxRec

By Alessandro Ferrarini

The vacant European super-bantamweight crown will now be contested by current British and Commonwealth champ Esham Pickering (24-3; 8 KOs) of Newark, England, and Italian contender Vincenzo Gigliotti (23-4; 14 KOs). At this stage of their careers, the European clash definitely looks like a gatekeeper for international recognition for both contestants, as Pickering and Gigliotti both came up short in challenges for portions of the world title in the past. In fact, Gigliotti lost in twelve to then-WBA 122lb king Salim Medjkoune, while Pickering was drilled in one by then-WBO 118lb champ Mauricio Martinez. Purse bids for the Euro fight will be held on December 16 at the offices of the European Boxing Union in Rome, Italy.

Good move for Pickering!

I dont know much about his oponent, is he any good?

good news for pickering, better if its in England,

Pickering needs to go up the ladder and this will be the first step,

:P

I do prefer it when our fighters go the European route.

It generally means good rankings with the more repectable sanctioning bodies rather than the wbu guff.

On saying that though, the way the WBC have been performing of late, they could be classed as semi guff as well.

I'm chuffed to bits for Esham, he's a smashing guy who's got his career back on track after being on the end of some lows.

Really this fight is something of a win-win for him. He has the chance to win the European title and earn some good money. Should he do so then he'll earn earn a decent payday by facing Michael Hunter for the triple crown.

But, should he lose, in all probability he'll still face Hunter for the British & Commonwealth titles in a real trade fight. Both guys want this fight. Esham is currently in Denmark sparring with featherweight Spend Abazi who carries a nice 27-1 record! Pickering has a tune-up on the Ottke-Reid undercard. I'm sure going in with Abazi will act as good preparation for him.