Ekow Essuman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Haizel Ekow Tabiri-Essuman 30 March 1989 Botswana |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | The Engine |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record [1] | |
| Total fights | 23 |
| Wins | 22 |
| Wins by KO | 8 |
| Losses | 1 |
Ekow 'The Engine' Essuman (born 30 March 1989 [2] ) is a Botswana-British professional boxer. At regional level, he has held multiple welterweight championships, including the British and Commonwealth titles from 2021 to 2023. He holds a notable win over former undisputed light-welterweight champion Josh Taylor.
Essuman made his professional debut on 1 December 2016, scoring a four-round points decision (PTS) victory against Andrej Cepur at the Holiday Inn, Birmingham, England. [3]
After compiling a record of 8–0 (2 KOs), he faced Andy Keates for the vacant English welterweight title on 20 October 2018 at the Harvey Hadden Sports Village in Nottingham, England. Essuman knocked Keates down twice in the fourth round en route to a fifth-round technical knockout (TKO). [4] He returned to the Harvey Hadden Sports Village for his next fight, successfully defending his English title against former British super-lightweight champion, Tyrone Nurse, via majority decision (MD) on 16 March 2019. Two judges scored the bout in favour of Essuman with 98–93 and 96–94 while the third scored it a draw at 95–95. [5] After a stoppage win over William Warburton in July [6] and a PTS victory over Zygimantas Butkevicius in October, [7] Essuman finished 2019 with a second defence of his title on 30 November, defeating Curtis Felix Jr via eighth-round TKO at the York Hall in London. [8]
Essuman defended his BBBofC British, CBC Commonwealth, and IBF European welterweight belts, against Darren Tetley on 23 April 2022, on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte. [9]
He lost his titles and unbeaten record to Harry Scarff at Manchester Arena on 18 November 2023 via unanimous decision. [10] [11] [12]
Essuman stopped Owen Cooper in the final round to win the WBO European welterweight title at Manchester Arena on 20 July 2024. [13]
He made a successful first defense of his title with a majority decision victory over Ben Vaughan at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham on 2 November 2024. [14] [15]
Essuman defeated Josh Taylor by unanimous decision at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on 24 May 2025. [16] [17] [18]
| 23 fights | 22 wins | 1 loss |
|---|---|---|
| By knockout | 8 | 0 |
| By decision | 14 | 1 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Win | 22–1 | Josh Taylor | UD | 12 | 24 May 2025 | OVO Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland | Won vacant WBO Global welterweight title |
| 22 | Win | 21-1 | Ben Vaughan | MD | 10 | 2 Nov, 2024 | Resorts World Arena, Birmingham, England | Retained WBO European welterweight title |
| 21 | Win | 20-1 | Owen Cooper | TKO | 10 (10) 0:23 | 20 Jul, 2024 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | Won WBO European welterweight title |
| 20 | Loss | 19–1 | Harry Scarff | UD | 12 | 18 Nov 2023 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | Lost British, Commonwealth, and IBF European welterweight titles |
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Chris Kongo | MD | 12 | 21 Jan 2023 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | Retained British, Commonwealth and IBF European welterweight titles; Won WBC International Silver welterweight title |
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Samuel Antwi | UD | 12 | 24 Sep 2022 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | Retained British, Commonwealth, and IBF European welterweight titles |
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Darren Tetley | UD | 12 | 23 Apr 2022 | Wembley Stadium, London, England | Retained British, Commonwealth, and IBF European welterweight titles |
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Danny Ball | KO | 6 (12), 3:00 | 9 Oct 2021 | Arena Birmingham, Birmingham, England | Retained British, Commonwealth, and IBF European welterweight titles |
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Chris Jenkins | TKO | 8 (12), 0:43 | 24 Jul 2021 | The SSE Arena, London, England | Won British and Commonwealth welterweight titles |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Cedrick Peynaud | UD | 10 | 12 Sep 2020 | York Hall, London, England | Won vacant IBF European welterweight title |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Curtis Felix Jr | TKO | 8 (10), 2:14 | 30 Nov 2019 | York Hall, London, England | Retained English welterweight title |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Zygimantas Butkevicius | PTS | 6 | 19 Oct 2019 | Britannia Hotel, Nottingham, England | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | William Warburton | RTD | 6 (8), 3:00 | 6 Jul 2019 | Harvey Hadden Sports Village, Nottingham, England | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Tyrone Nurse | MD | 10 | 16 Mar 2019 | Harvey Hadden Sports Village, Nottingham, England | Retained English welterweight title |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Andy Keates | TKO | 5 (10), 0:43 | 20 Oct 2018 | Harvey Hadden Sports Village, Nottingham, England | Won vacant English welterweight title |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Edvinas Puplauskas | PTS | 6 | 15 Sep 2018 | Britannia Hotel, Nottingham, England | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Nelson Altamirano | TKO | 1 (8), 0:42 | 31 Mar 2018 | Harvey Hadden Sports Village, Nottingham, England | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Jordan Grannum | PTS | 6 | 16 Dec 2017 | Bingham Leisure Centre, Bingham, England | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Serge Ambomo | PTS | 8 | 21 Oct 2017 | Harvey Hadden Sports Village, Nottingham, England | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Arvydas Trizno | PTS | 4 | 24 Jun 2017 | Bingham Leisure Centre, Bingham, England | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Casey Blair | TKO | 3 (4), 0:26 | 22 Apr 2017 | Leicester Arena, Leicester, England | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Kevin McCauley | PTS | 4 | 4 Feb 2017 | Bingham Leisure Centre, Bingham, England | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Andrej Cepur | PTS | 4 | 1 Dec 2016 | Holiday Inn, Birmingham, England |