Northampton fighter James sets his sights on Commonwealth title glory
Eithan James is targeting Commonwealth title glory in London this Sunday (March 30).
The Northampton fighter headlines as he takes on unbeaten Constantin Ursu at York Hall in Bethnal Green, with the pair squaring up for the vacant Commonwealth Boxing Council welterweight crown.
The Team Shoe-Box man is targeting a second major title, having previously won the European belt in 2023, before surrendering that when he suffered a first career defeat at the hands of Owen Cooper 12 months ago.
James, who is 24, bounced back from that loss with a win over highly-rated Jermaine Osbourne-Edwards in November, and he is now desperate to get back on the title trail this weekend in front of the DAZN cameras.
James goes into the fight with a professional record of 13 wins and one defeat, and believes he is going to have too much for 25-year-old southpaw Ursu (12 wins out of 12).
"He is a good boxer, and a good fighter, but I don't think he has been in with anybody like me," said James, who is nicknamed ‘Jammy’.
"All his opponents have been hand-picked for him, and think I will give him problems that he has not seen before.
"He is a southpaw and I don't mind that, I have fought plenty of southpaws before, I think four as a pro, so I am quite comfortable against them and their style.
"I am really looking forward to it, I have wanted to get back into big fights and will hopefully come away with the Commonwealth title.
"We want to win this and move on to bigger things, hopefully the British."
Suffering a first defeat of his career was a setback for James, but the level-headed fighter says he just had to take it in his stride.
"I just went straight back to work, and got back in the gym," said James, who is trained by James Conway at the Team Shoe-Box gym on Harlestone Road in Northampton.
"I came back and got back to winning ways.
"I wanted to move on to better things, and then this fight came up and we took it with both hands.
"We want to be fighting the best out there."
One down side is that the fight is taking place on a Sunday, and not just any Sunday, as it’s also Mother's Day.
"It's not a great one, because it is hard to sell tickets and hard to get people there, but we just have to roll with it and get the job done," said the former King's Heath amateur.
Coverage of the 10-fight Top-Tier card starts at 7pm on Sunday on DAZN.