Sam Hickey: The rising middleweight star is a real showman and could be the best prospect in British boxing | Boxing News

Sam Hickey is a real showman. In fact, he’s a member of the guild.

Hickey is one of the best boxing prospects in Britain. He was an outstanding amateur who won the Commonwealth Games, only to see to his weight class removed from the Olympics themselves.

Now a professional boxer, he is five fights into his career. He’s displayed his sharp movement, strong counter-punching and spectacular finishing, especially in his last fight where he delivered a tremendous knockout of Todd Tompkins.

The Scotsman is from a family of showmen, the community that travels around the country operating fairgrounds and carnivals.

“Still got loads of family involved. I’m a member of the Showman’s Guild, the Scottish section back home. I get a lot of support off the showmen all over the country, not just Scottish showmen and all my family. It’s a big backing throughout the country,” Hickey told Sky Sports.

“We do a lot of tickets all over the country and I’ve got so much backing from Dundee, everywhere in Scotland.

“There’s loads of us. It’s great to be doing that and putting them on the map and getting so much support as well.”

That’s what Hickey could be doing for a living now, rather than boxing, if his father hadn’t settled in Dundee.

“My mum and dad packed it in just as I was born so I was growing up around the fairs. My cousins and that were all travelling in funfairs and I was still going and staying with them in the summers and that,” Hickey reflected.

“I’m based in Dundee and I’ve been able to take up boxing and give it a proper go, but if my dad and mum were still travelling and working on fairs and had their own rides and stuff, maybe I’d be working on that.”

He wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Scottish boxers who have preceded him. Hickey wants to fill the void left by the retirement of Josh Taylor. He wants to be Scotland’s next boxing superstar.

“In Scottish boxing there’s a few of us coming though,” Hickey said. “I’d love to do what Josh, Ricky [Burns], all these great fighters from Scotland [have done]. They were all amazing fighters.

“I feel like I’m getting a lot more comfortable in the pro ring, getting my own style and developing as a fighter. Being more relaxed. I just feel like it’s coming together now.”

He comes from the same town as Dick McTaggart, the greatest British amateur boxer of all time.

When Hickey was growing up as a youngster boxing on club shows, McTaggart would frequently come to watch and give him some advice. “He would just tell you to keep your hands up,” Hickey remembered.

“[He had the] most achievements as an amateur over a long period of time, winning so many trophies and medals, the best boxer at an Olympic Games, then he goes to the next Olympics after that and wins a bronze, he still stayed on it. Back then there was no serious funding for amateur athletes, he was still working and stuff while doing all this.

“He always had his medal in his pocket and he would just hand it out like it was nothing, he just let you hold it.

“He never ever turned professional. I think it was because he loved the sport so much.”

Hickey is only at the early stages of his own journey through boxing. On Saturday, live on Sky Sports, he fights Brad Axe on the undercard of Aaron McKenna vs Etinosa Oliha at the 3Arena in Dublin.

Axe is an ambitious prospect himself, with one defeat against six victories. An RAF firefighter, he won the Armed Forces championship as an amateur and is looking to derail Hickey’s hopes.

“He’s going to be tough, strong. But I’ve been exposed to really high-level boxing so I don’t think it’s going to be something that I’ve never seen before,” Hickey said.

“Brad Axe is no mug, he’s going to come to fight. But it’s up to me… I really should be breaking him down.”

Hickey would love to replicate the kind of knockout he landed against Tompkins. “I don’t even realise what I’m doing. I watch it back and think: ‘How did I do that?’ Honestly I don’t understand it, it’s weird. Next thing they’re on the floor,” he said.

“It’s timing, if they miss with a punch and you’re connecting.

“Pro boxing’s entertainment and you need to be putting on good performances,” he added.

Axe should make for the kind of fight that can propel Hickey to a new level. “I need to be switched on from the start. It’s going to stand me in good stead later on in my career as well,” he said.

“I want to be in big shows in Scotland. If that comes sooner rather than later then that’s the best thing for me.

“I just need to keep going, keep winning, enjoy the journey.”

Watch Aaron McKenna and Etinosa Oliha fight for the IBF world middleweight title in Dublin on Saturday, live on Sky Sports. Get Sky Sports or stream boxing with no contract.