2025 hasn’t started well for Shakan Pitters.

The year is barely halfway through but the 35-year-old has suffered loss, been through a health scare and seen his boxing career stall. On Saturday, Pitters is determined to show that the trials and tribulations have made him stronger than ever when he takes on Brad Rea for the vacant European light heavyweight title.

In January, Pitters' father Colin passed away but Pitters bravely continued to train for a February fight with then European champion, Daniel Blenda Dos Santos. Just 48 before the first bell, the fight was cancelled when an issue with the Frenchman’s brain scan came to light.

In April, Pitters was forced to withdraw from the rescheduled date after being hospitalised with a chest issue during fight week.

Whilst Pitters was in hospital undergoing tests, Rea stepped into the void and leapt at the chance to take on Dos Santos only for the Frenchman to withdraw on the day of the fight citing illness.

Dos Santos was eventually stripped of the famous blue and silver belt and, on Saturday night, a medically cleared Pitters (20-2, 7 KOs) and Rea (20-1, 10 KOs) will finally get in the ring at Hull's Connexin Live Arena and bring the whole saga to an end.

In an interview earlier this week, Rea told The Ring he believes that Pitters will present a tougher challenge than Dos Santos would have.

That is an assessment the man from Birmingham wholeheartedly agrees with.

"Definitely, 100%. I know I'm a better fighter than Dos Santos," he told The Ring.

"I'm obviously more seasoned and more experienced and the scary thing about it is people look and think, "Shak's 35 yeas old, he's getting on."

"I turned pro at 28, so my development in the pro game started more or less when I was about 30. Remember, my career went through the roof in my first three years or so because I won title after title after title."

Pitters - who stands 6ft 6in tall - burst onto the light heavyweight scene but has spent the past three years on the outside looking in.

He had been a professional for just 18 months when he won three fights in one night to clinch an Ultimate Boxxer tournament in 2018. Within a year he was the English champion and less than twelve months later, had the British title wrapped around his waist.

Things certainly didn't come easily for Pitters but success found him quickly and he suddenly found himself at the sharp end of the British light heavyweight division.

Craig Richards tore his newly won title away in his first defence and an in-form Dan Azeez outpointed him when trying to regain the strap in November 2022.

Rather than allowing those losses to put a ceiling on his ambitions, Pitters returned to the gym and continued to evolve. He is excited to show just how much he has improved this weekend.

"I was a novice professional winning that British title. I was less experienced than Craig, they caught me at a good time," he said.

"Nevertheless, he won. The same with Dan, I was less experienced. To what I know now and the fighter I am today, it's scary. I've come on bundles and I'm not that same fighter that people could look back on and say I use my range. Yeah, I use my range well, also a great inside fighter, use my brain a lot better in the ring and things like that."

"I feel it in myself and nothing about me is slowing down. I live the life and put my body through it. It will pay off for me."

Two months after Pitters' defeat to Azeez, Rea lost a 10-round decision against future European middleweight champion, Tyler Denny for English honours. Both fighters were cast aside and have been working their way back to title level ever since.

The British light heavyweight division has been extremely active over the past three years but Pitters has been forced to stand by and watch events play out.

He believes that he wouldn't be the fighter he has become without the hardships he has suffered and that fighters are too harshly treated for losing tough fights.

"Everyone wants to be undefeated but I feel like where I am in my career, my wins and my defeats have made me a better fighter. They've brought the fire in me," he said.

"If me and Brad had stopped our journey, we wouldn't be facing each other right now. It would be two other people facing each other for this title so it shows to the fighters coming up that it may not make sense going forward, but looking back it will make sense.

"You've got to get yourself in positions where you're hot property and people want you. But it's mad because these boxing promoters and fans call for big fights - and there's so many domestic fights that everyone could be involved in - and it's like the moment someone takes a loss, they're finished.

"Where in the UFC, people take losses every other month or whatnot and they're just all fighting each other, you know so it's different.”

Pitters' recent experiences have taught him that other people's opinions don't really matter. He is now solely concerned with becoming as good as he can be and making his family proud.

"I can't put on someone's vision of me onto them. How they feel about me is how they feel about me," he said.

"I only could come in this boxing game being myself and what I'm in control of is my inner energy, my belief, what I believe in myself, what my team believe in me and how my family feel about me. Representing our household, our last name and things like that.

"That's what matters to me. When I come back home, I put my head down. I’m making my family proud, I'm making my late dad proud. The things that matters."