Copyright mirror
Ekow Essuman's road to a world title shot has been littered with mops and buckets. The welterweight contender has rebuilt his career since he surprisingly lost his British title two years ago. He sent former undisputed champion Josh Taylor into retirement with an upset win on Scottish soil six months ago. And he can secure a shot at the big time with victory over Jack Catterall next weekend. The clash will support Chris Eubank Jr's rematch with Conor Benn in front of up to 60,000 fans at the still-shiny Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. But Essuman, 36, will be content just to box in a ring which doesn't double up as a health hazard. For the Nottingham man has spent as much time in the gym evading puddles as he has punches. The city's DCT Boxing Academy has been plagued by DIY defects and the tenants are locked in a battle with their landlord. The club has spent thousands on repairs which have barely papered over the cracks. And all the while Essuman has been trying to plot his route to the top. "Right now it's not safe," he said. "Some of the toilets in the changing rooms don't work and the heating for the showers isn't always working. There wasn't much heating at all so we had to buy a gas heater. There are leaks in the roof so every time it rains there is a different puddle on the gym floor or in the ring. "We would have to dry out the canvas and just move around the wet patches, but you've got to think about injuries. We had to replace the ring canvas and we had to replace the flooring and buy rubber padding to mitigate the water damage. We also had swollen wood which we had to chop away at. "The ring canvas alone was a few grand and getting the flooring all padded was another two or three grand. We had to replace a lot of equipment because the gloves and groin protectors were soaked." Essuman has been able to find alternative accommodation ahead of the biggest fight of his career. But his community work has ground to a halt. "We had anti-knife classes going on, kids classes going on, women's classes too," he added. "It's not just the boxers who are affected, we drew a lot of people from the community. I work in schools using boxing as a form of therapy to help kids get their behaviour back on track. But I haven't been able to bring the kids to the gym for their final session." Fight by fight, Essuman has quietly arrived at a career crossroads. Win or lose, he’ll then turn his attention to a very different battle. This one drip by rainy drip.
