Sam Eggington-Joe Pigford may very well be tomorrow’s combat of the evening

There will be three big cards in the UK tomorrow night (this is far from ideal as many boxing writers have already pointed out as fans now have to choose which card to tune in when there really should/could have been separate dates for the three cards). We have a Mauricio Lara-Leigh Wood rematch in Manchester to go out on DAZN. We have Luis Alberto Lopez’s fight with Michael Conlan, also at featherweight, in Belfast to come out on ESPN. And we have the Lawrence Okolie-Chris Billam-Smith cruiserweight fight in Bournemouth to come out on Sky Sports.

These three fights can provide fans with some really great action. However, if you’re looking for the fight of the night, the junior middleweight bout between Sam Eggington and Joe Pigford on the Okolie-Billam Smith show could be the one.

Has Eggington ever had a bad fight? Never. Whereas Pigford is a really hard banger. Pigford is undefeated in 20 fights, winning all but one by KO. This man from Southampton has real firepower. But against tougher-than-tougher Eggington, a man who has landed almost surreal penalties in some of his fights, and he comes back to win some of those X-rated bouts, Pigford is prepared for the toughest fight of his professional career.

It really feels like there’s no way this fight can’t be exciting, brutal, possibly bloody, and wild. It is also unlikely that this one will go the distance. Eggington, 33-8(19) may no longer be at full strength, and only Lord knows what brutal fights he has been in, and for some time now some people have been calling for his retirement. Often defense seems like a dirty word to Eggington! As Pigford says of his upcoming enemy, “he doesn’t seem too concerned about getting hit, so I feel like I’m going to hurt him sooner or later and take him down.”

Pigford can do it, but he may have to go through a vicious war along the way. Eggington never gives up, and no one who beat him has ever had it easy. Eggington, 29, who has only been detained twice, has been dubbed “Britain’s most exciting player” and his all-out wars with Ted Cheeseman (L12), Bilel Jkitou (W12) and Denis Hogan (L12) show us why. Eggington brings experience and sheer stamina, while Pigford carries the power to extinguish light.

Who wins this one?

West Midlands’ Eggington is back after a victory over a 2-5-1 in March, while Pigford, a year older, will fight his first fight in ten months. You have to travel back to June 2013 to find the only time Pigford was led until the last bell.

Whether this fight escalates into a war/battle of attrition or ends in a KO, it WILL be epic. It’s inevitable. Skip this fight at your own risk.