By Ben Carey
Esham Pickering’s bold bid to become a two-time European champion ended in failure after he was hammered in three rounds by reigning EBU featherweight king Oleg Yefimovych in Donetsk, Ukraine on Saturday night.
The 33-year-old Pickering, who made two defences of the European super-bantam crown before losing it to Michael Hunter in a see-saw battle four years ago, was floored three times before the comically named referee Jean-Louis Legland had seen enough.
A left hook put Esham down towards the end of round two, and after regaining his feet he was immediately floored again by a left-right combination which sent him crashing into the bottom rope. Pickering rose groggily and was rescued by the bell as Yefimovych was primed to finish matters.
Pickering’s reprieve was only temporary. Another big left hook, a minute into the third, sent him heavily to the canvas and the one-sided contest was halted. Esham, 34-9 (13), has now lost four of his last six but was stopped for only the second time in his 43-fight career.
The manner of this loss will have come as no surprise to close followers of Pickering’s 13-year career, however. A hat-trick of points defeats to Sean Hughes, Matthew Marsh and Paul Appleby, in which Pickering was repeatedly hit and shaken by the relatively light punchers, have raised serious question marks about the Newark fighter’s boxing future. After a successful career now would seem an appropriate time for the likeable Pickering to call it a day.
Yefimovych, 17-1 (11), is now set to defend his European crown against Scotland’s former British featherweight champion Paul Appleby, who was originally slated to meet the Ukrainian on this date until he was forced to withdraw through injury which handed Pickering his chance on two weeks notice.
