Ebonie Cotton…faces Sasha Booker for Midlands title in December
BLONDE bomber Ebonie Cotton has her title fight!
The Rowley Regis bantam will face Sasha Booker for the vacant Midlands title at The Supreme venue, West Brom, on December 20.
She deserves the opportunity and will start favourite. Booker, from Nottingham, has won three of five, but, tellingly, was stopped last time out by former WBA bantam queen Shannon Courtenay.
That’s the same Shannon Courtenay who drew with 32-year-old Ebonie over six rounds in September. The form-line is ominous.
I’ll admit to misjudging Cotton, maybe even badly misjudging her. I clocked the daring weigh-in wardrobes – she’s stepped on the scales with her modesty barely covered by gaffer tap – and, considered her more style than substance. That view was reinforced by a lack-lustred debut.
The reality is, she can fight – and has shed blood doing so. The astonishing statistics underline Ebonie’s potential. She turned pro with no real amateur experience, yet has faced two world champions – former WBA bantam boss Courtenay and Australia’s IBF bantam ruler Ebanie Bridges – in her first five contests. There’s an argument she won both of them: the Bridges points loss was highly contentious.
There’s an argument she’s faced three global titleholders if you include the cage fighting achievements of Molly McCann who Cotton lost to in her second bout.
As trainer Malcolm Melvin put it: “If it’s a sideshow it’s one hell of sideshow. A sideshow doesn’t pull off what she’s done. Sideshows don’t get noticed because they can’t back it up. If she’s a sideshow she’s not a bad sideshow, is she?”
The former British title challenger added: “It’s a different world, you have to have a bit of a niche, people are always looking for that quirk – if you can sell yourself you’re going to do well.
“Years ago it wouldn’t have gone down well with us dinosaurs (at close to 70, I can’t argue with the description), but that’s the way boxing is. You have to sell yourself – the days of the stiff upper lip have gone.”
Cotton certainly knows how to sell herself.