Esham Pickering (born 7 August 1976) is a British former
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who competed from 1996 to 2014. He challenged once for the
WBO bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from Ba ...
title in 2000. At regional level, he held the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
super bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to .
There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanctioning organizations or ...
title twice between 2003 and 2008; the Commonwealth super bantamweight title from 2003 to 2005; and the
EBU
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...
European super bantamweight title from 2004 to 2005. He also challenged twice for the British
featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Boxing
Professional boxing
History
A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...
title, in 1998 and 2008, and once for the EBU European featherweight title in 2009.
Early career
Pickering started his professional career in September 1996, with a 1st round win over Brendan Bryce in
Cleethorpes
Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then develo ...
. By November 1997 he had compiled an unbeaten record of 11 wins against no defeats and had earned a shot at the full British featherweight title. He travelled to
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
to challenge holder
Jon Jo Irwin
John Irwin (born 31 May 1969, Doncaster), known as Jon Jo Irwin, is a retired English amateur featherweight and professional feather/ super featherweight boxer of the 1990s.
Boxing career Amateur
As an amateur he represented England and wo ...
in May 1998 and lasted the full 12 rounds in what was to be an unsuccessful attempt. The defeat to Irwin was to be his first as a professional.
World Title Challenge
Pickering bounced back from his first career defeat to register six back to back wins including Chris Lyons, Marc Smith and Leeroy Williamson to line himself up for a shot at the
World Boxing Organisation
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...
's version of the bantamweight title. On 16 December 2000 at the Sheffield Arena he challenged the reigning champion
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
nian, Mauricio Martinez and suffered a stoppage defeat after only 1 round. Martinez himself would go on to lose the belt in his next defence.
British and Commonwealth champion
Following the defeat to Martinez, Pickering fought only twice in 2001 on both occasions beating journeyman Carl Allen. In 2002 Pickering fought Allen twice more again winning both times. Sandwiched in between those wins came a third career defeat for Pickering, travelling to the Canary Islands to challenge Spaniard Alejandro Monzon and dropping a split decision. On 8 February 2003 Pickering fought for the vacant Commonwealth super bantamweight title and finally lifted a title defeating Kenyan Duncan Karanja to take the belt. In his next fight on 12 July 2003 Pickering made his first defence of the title against
Brian Carr
Brian Carr (born 20 June 1969, in Glasgow) is a Scottish amateur featherweight and professional super bantam/ feather/ super featherweight boxer of the 1990s and 2000s.
Boxing career Amateur career
As an amateur he won the 1990 Amateur ...
in a fight which also saw the vacant British title on the line. Pickering stopped Carr in the fourth round at the
Braehead Arena
The Braehead Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The arena was built in 1999, and is located within the Braehead Complex. The arena was formerly the home of the Scottish Eagles ice hockey club and is now the home to the e ...
in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
to leave
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
with both championships. One more defence of his Commonwealth title took place on 24 October 2003 with Pickering retaining the belt by beating Ghana's Alfred Tetteh at the York Hall. He would not go on to defend the British title choosing instead to go the European route meaning that
Michael Hunter would go on to take the vacant belt.
European Champion and challenger
On 16 January 2004 Pickering travelled to the Town and Country club in Bradford to lift the European super bantamweight title. His opponent, Italian Vincenzo Gigliotti was stopped in the 10th round meaning that Pickering held the Commonwealth and European titles at the same time. Pickering would defend the belt twice more against Juan Garcia Martin in May 2004 and Miguel Mallon in June 2005, the latter victory taking place in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
. Sandwiched between the defence's on 8 May 2005 also came an 8-round victory over former British and European champion
Noel Wilders. Pickering put his belts on the line, when on 28 October 2005, he challenged new British champion
Michael Hunter for the belt that he never lost in the ring. In an exciting contest Pickering eventually went home empty handed dropping a majority decision for his fourth career defeat in a fight which took place in Hunter's backyard, the Borough Hall in
Hartlepool
Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...
. Pickering rebounded from the defeat with a victory over French journeyman Frederic Bonifai and with Hunter choosing to challenge for the IBF World title he found himself challenging for the now vacant title. The fight on 11 November 2006 took place in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
and saw Ireland's
Bernard Dunne
Bernard Dunne (born 6 February 1980) is an Irish former professional boxer and a former WBA (Regular), and European Super Bantamweight champion.
On Saturday 21 March 2009, Dunne defeated Ricardo Cordoba in the 11th round to become the WBA (Reg ...
lift the belt with a unanimous victory over 12 rounds.
Two time British champion and challenger
on 16 March 2007 Pickering once again challenged for the now vacant British title and lifted the belt for the second time, defeating Marc Callaghan at the Norwich Showground. The victory was followed up with two non-title fights for the Newark man with a victory over Steve Gethin in October 2007 closely followed by an 8-round defeat to
Sean Hughes in November. The defeat to Hughes meant that Pickering's next title defence was to be against the man from
Pontefract
Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wake ...
and the defeat was avenged with Hughes stopped in the 9th round. On 27 June 2008, Pickering made his second defence and lost the title to prospect
Matthew Marsh at the York Hall. His next fight saw a move up to featherweight and another chance at a British title against another prospect in Scotland's
Paul Appleby only to drop another 12-round decision in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
for the 8th defeat of his career.
Later career
Pickering returned to the ring on 23 May 2009 to defeat journeyman Sid Razak in
Sleaford
Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington, Lincolnshire, ...
,
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
and followed this by traveling to the
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
for an unexpected chance to regain the European title. Meeting reigning champion Oleg Yefimovych on 3 October 2009 in what was a voluntary defence for the champion, Pickering was outclassed and stopped in the third round. He returned once more on 29 May 2010 this time to compete in the
Prizefighter series
The Prizefighter series was a professional boxing tournament created by boxing promoter Barry Hearn and aired on Sky Sports. The format has an initial eight fighters, who compete in four quarter-finals of rounds (number and length of the rounds is ...
held at the
York Hall
The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure complex in Bethnal Green, London, and is situated on Old Ford Road. The building opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200 and is now an inter ...
in
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...
. Pickering faced
Josh Wale in the quarter final of the tournament, losing on a split decision to the younger man.
[Champion Casey targets European title shot]
Prizefighter series, 30 May 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickering, Esham
Living people
1976 births
English male boxers
Sportspeople from Newark-on-Trent
Super-bantamweight boxers
Prizefighter contestants