After a showreel KO last Saturday (March 28) when he was flattened by Sergey Khomitsky, Dennis Hobson believes Sheffield’s Adam Etches needs to evaluate the setup around him if he is to progress further in the sport.
Middleweight Etches, who had been fed a number of foreign opponents to build his record to 18-0, was horribly exposed against Khomitsky with the East European landing a flush right in the fourth that left Adam poleaxed on the canvas.
Although Khomitsky had been beaten 11 times in over 40 contests, he was known as a high risk-low reward opponent. The dangerman from Belarus had previously given top-class fighters like Robert Stieglitz, Martin Murray and Ryan Rhodes excellent workouts, and derailed Frank Buglioni’s rise with a savage six round KO in 2014.
“Adam is an exciting fighter,” said Hobson, “but when you’ve got people planning your career who don’t quite know what they’re doing then you end up in the wrong fights at the wrong time.
“That was too dangerous a fight for Adam, there was no gain in it and he simply wasn’t ready for that opponent at that time. It’s so important in boxing to have the right people around you, and that’s a flaw in Adam’s setup.”
Hobson has previously tried to match Etches with unbeaten Lewis Taylor. With Taylor hailing from nearby Dronfield, and having gone to the same school as Etches, a clash between the pair would have generated huge interest. Etches though turned down the £10,000 offer and, with Lewis due to meet Eamonn O’Kane in May, Hobson now believes Adam is behind in the pecking order.
“Lewis Taylor is in front of Adam now. Adam needs to think about rebuilding because that was a heavy KO and it’s important how he handles it. He won’t know until he gets in the ring next time whether he’s over it. Lewis Taylor isn’t the right fight now because Adam needs learning fights and to build himself back up. If Lewis comes through this next fight then it will get him on the world scene. And that’s levels above where Adam is at the moment.”
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