Nicknamed "The Engine," because of his non-stop work rate, solid chin and underrated boxing skills, was too much for a lengthy list of younger, ambitious fighters and an unattractive proposition for more established names.

Saturday, Essuman (22-2, 8 KOs) faces Jack Rafferty (26-0-1, 17 KOs), a former British and Commonwealth junior welterweight champion, at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena. The fight is the chief support to the WBO heavyweight title fight between Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois streamed on DAZN PPV.

In October, Essuman lost to Jack Catterall, but even at 37 he's still driven by becoming the best.

"I wasn't The Man because I haven't got what I want yet," he told The Ring.

"People can have their own reservations about things but I will be The Man. That's the nice thing about it. It will be nice when everyone sees me be The Man.

"You can't cook in a kitchen without hot grease. Diamonds get made under pressure. If you came this far just to give up, then what were you doing it for? I've always said to people, 'Chuck me to the lions and I'll come back with the lion's mane.'

"I've never said I'm going to get a world title and it's going to be easy, but I have said I'm going to get a world title. Keep tuning in and watch the journey."

The spotlight has found Essuman at a relatively late stage of his career, but his relentless style has finally made him an attraction. Last May, he traveled to Scotland and outhustled Josh Taylor over 12 rounds to bring the curtain down on the former undisputed junior welterweight champion’s outstanding career.

That win earned him a fight with The Ring's No. 10 welterweight in Catterall, and a showcase spot on the Chris Eubank Jr-Conor Benn II undercard.

Things didn't go to plan. Essuman boxed with his usual determination, but Catterall produced his best performance for some time and scored an 11th-round stoppage.

Essuman has been in this situation and knows what it takes to rebuild. In November 2023, his long run as domestic champion was ended by Harry Scarff and he had to plot a route back to contention.

He is once again refusing to shrink quietly away.

"That night taught me at the higher echelon, at that level, there's high-level tricks that you can play and the you have to have that high-level counter for those tricks or the way people box, the things they do that the ref should tell them off about, how it plays and how to counter that," he said of the fight with Catterall.

"I learned my lesson and I only learn lessons once. Now it's time to put them into practice."

Essuman is ready to employ some of those new skills against Rafferty this weekend.

"I'm going to have a lot of those waiting for Jack."

Essuman chose to fight Rafferty.

He also received an offer to fight Conah Walker, former British and Commonwealth welterweight champion, but was unhappy with it. Essuman pivoted and accepted a fight with Rafferty, whose 140-pound domestic reign was characterized by his own relentless pressure fighting and thudding, heavy punches.

Taking on a fighter as well-regarded at British level as Essuman in his 147-pound debut is a solid statement of intent from Rafferty. Essuman is determined to make sure that it is looked back on as a big mistake rather than an inspired piece of matchmaking.

"Who knows if it was not a great time for him to stay at 140?" he said. "If he felt it was the right time to move up to 147? What I know is that the fight was trying to be agreed for a 10-rounder and I said, 'No, if you're going to fight me it's going to be 12.' If you want to come into my house, come into my territory, you've got to play my games."