Bermondsey boxer Chris Kongo: I did enough to beat Ekow Essuman on points

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Chris Kongo felt he shaded Saturday night’s welterweight clash with Ekow Essuman and reckons two of the judges scored it wrongly.

The Bermondsey welterweight suffered his second career loss as a professional as he was on the wrong end of a majority decision at Manchester Arena.

Judge Phil Edwards scored it a draw 114-114 with Victor Loughlin only having Essuman winning by a point, 115-114.

Michael Alexander saw it 116-113 for the defending British and Commonwealth champion.

Kongo’s trainer Ben Davison felt his fighter had won by two rounds.

“I’m a bit gutted,” said Kongo, 30. “We thought we had the decision.

“The people I have in my corner always tell me the truth. They can see the fight as well. They never, ever lie to me at any stage.

“Even during the fight you could tell there were certain rounds that I was comfortable with the way my coach was speaking to me and then certain rounds that he was upset and very angry, because I didn’t do certain things within that round.

“He was happy overall and he definitely thought I won by two rounds. I don’t understand the scorecards, no. They are based on their opinions. The person who had it close, he’s probably the one who saw it most like it was.”

Kongo had won two in a row heading into the Essuman bout, bouncing back from being outpointed by Portsmouth’s Michael McKinson in March 2021.

“One hundred per cent I will definitely come again,” said the South Londoner.

“One thing I did realise, is when you do look at the fight then a lot of people were impressed by my improvements that I’ve been working on in the gym.

“They were really happy with my performance, because it wasn’t a rubbish fight – it was a great contest.

“Ben thought I was definitely cruising in the first five rounds – they were clearcut ones that I had.

“It’s just a thing of consistency, which we will get back and work on.”

PICTURE: LAWRENCE LUSTIG/BOXXER