Diego Costa reflects on Contender VIP Tournament victory and discusses future plans
Contender VIP had promised hard-hitting action from some of Britain and Ireland's top prospects and it certainly did not disappoint, as Manchester-based Brazilian Diego Costa (7-0) produced a sensational knockout against previously undefeated Boris Creighton (6-1) to win the inaugural Phil Martin Trophy at light-heavyweight.
Prior to the fourth round of the final, it had been Creighton narrowly edging proceedings, using his natural size advantage and movement to keep Costa at bay. This all changed in round four, however, as Costa unloaded bombs which seemed to come from nowhere, sending his opponent crashing to the canvas. Creighton rose to his feet on unsteady legs and after another flurry of power punches the Scottish southpaw was back down on the canvas again and refereeDarren Sarginson was forced to halt proceedings.
Costa, a proud product of Oliver Harrison's Gym in Salford, was emotional as he collected the Phil Martin Trophy along with a cool payday of £10k.
Known to fans as 'Dynamite', the 33-year-old Brazilian, who had Humphrey Harrison and world title contender Martin Murray in his corner, reacted to his victory by saying, "I want to dedicate this victory to Oliver Harrison. I owe Oliver so much and this victory was for him tonight and the whole team at Oliver's gym.
"Boris is a good fighter, and he will come back, it was my time and things I had been working on in the gym paid off. I knew when I landed I could hurt him and I did and I am overwhelmed with the victory.
"Thank you to Mike Le-Gallez and the team at Contender VIP for giving me this great opportunity. The whole experience was fantastic and it is one that will live with me forever.”
Costa, who is £10k better off with his victory, now has the opportunity to push on up in the domestic scene, currently topped by the likes of Anthony Yarde, Joshua Buatsi, Callum Johnson, Shakan Pitters and others.
The unbeaten Mancunian-Brazilian opened up about his plans moving forward, “I entered this tournament at light-heavyweight but I can honestly go as low as middleweight. I have been crying out for opportunities for a long time now and Contender VIP gave me one, so I’m hoping to build on this success.
“I want to continue to build up through probably the super-middleweight rankings and hopefully look for titles in 2020. I believe I am now in a good position so titles is what I really want in 2020.
“I really enjoyed boxing on the Contender VIP show so I’d like to continue to box on these shows. Everyone is saying they’re the best ‘small hall’ shows around, so for me I’d like to push on with my career as a part of these great events and hopefully get a title fight in the coming months.”