Eithan James believes a switch up to super-welterweight will pay off when he challenges for the vacant IBO Continental belt later this month.
The 25-year-old from Northampton will take on Dom Hunt at Bolton Stadium on 21 March.
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Former WBO European champion James has won 15 fights as a professional, with his only two defeats coming in the welterweight category.
“When I was at welterweight, it was definitely a struggle. I can make it but obviously I’d seen it in a couple of performances that I wasn’t reaching my full potential,” he told BBC Radio Northampton.
“So I decided to move up and give myself a bit of breathing room and I can enjoy my training and build into a big super-welterweight in the coming years.
“I’m about three kilos overweight now and that’s perfect for where I want to be going into fight week and we’ll cut it from there.”
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James – who was in the Northampton Saints rugby academy for a time as a schoolboy – won a Commonwealth Youth Games gold medal in the Bahamas back in 2017 before turning pro a couple of years later.
“I’d been away with England a couple of times before and going to the Bahamas for a tournament seemed more like a holiday than anything,” he said.
“When you’re competing for England you can always see (yourself) making some sort of a career out of it, trying to aim for Team GB or to turn pro and I just didn’t enjoy the amateur game any more, I needed something new.”
James’ two most recent fights were a couple of four-round sharpeners in Northampton, having failed in an attempt to win the Commonwealth welterweight belt from Constantin Ursu just over a year ago.
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He and Hunt have a previous opponent in common in James Moorcroft, who James outpointed to win the WBO European title in 2023, while Hunt needed three attempts to beat him, with their first two fights ending as draws.
“Everyone says world level is where they want to be and obviously that’s the main goal,” James added.
“But I just want to pick up as many titles as I can, have a team around me that I enjoy working with and just enjoy the sport again.”
Listen to the full interview with Eithan James from 18:00 on Radio Northampton’s Friday Night Sport show
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