Nova Scotia's Custio Clayton faces top contender on path to fight for world title

This is a column by Morgan Campbell, who writes opinion for CBC Sports. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

When Custio Clayton and Jaron Ennis square off in an IBF title eliminator bout May 14, they'll compete for a prime position in pro-boxing's talent-rich welterweight division. 

"Title Eliminator" is boxing jargon for what normal sports call a semifinal, and the winner between Ennis, a blue-chip prospect from Philadelphia, and Clayton, a veteran contender from North Preston, N.S., earns the right to fight for the IBF world championship. 

But where Ennis, who is 28-0 with 26 knockouts, is fighting mainly for a chance at a world title and the big money bouts that will accompany it, Clayton, 2012 Olympian, is also competing for a place in Canadian sports history.

Again.

In October 2020, Clayton and Sergery Lipinets fought to a draw in an IBF interim title fight. One judge scored the bout for Clayton, overruled by the two who scored it even. A single extra point on either of those cards would have made Clayton the first Black Nova Scotian fighter to win a world title since George "Little Chocolate" Dixon won the world featherweight title in 1890.

"You're always fighting to prove something," said Clayton, who is 19-0-1. "You're always trying to make history. I just want to prove that I'm an elite fighter, and that I'm here to win."

This time, Clayton faces the same task, but in a changed welterweight landscape it is, potentially, a much tougher challenge.

When Clayton fought Lipinets, unified champion Errol Spence still hadn't returned from the fiery car crash that hospitalized him in November of 2019. But now Spence is back, displaying his trademark mixture of skill and aggressiveness,