Askin set for Irish fight date

He will meet Tommy McCarthy on his opponent’s home terrain in Northern Ireland.

Purse bids for the Askin versus McCarthy showdown were won by McCarthy’s manager Pat Magee.

McCarthy earned the right to face English champion Askin courtesy of a victory over former British cruiserweight ruler Jon-Lewis Dickinson in May.

Dickinson has since announced that he is hanging up his gloves.

Askin’s last outing was in Liverpool in March, when he stopped Simon Barclay in the second round.

Having won the purse bids, McCarthy’s manager is now looking at venue options for the eliminator and an announcement is expected shortly, with the strong likelihood that it will take place in Northern Ireland.

Magee said: “We are now in negotiations about a date and a venue.”

It won’t be the first time that Askin and McCarthy will have shared a ring.

They have sparred in the past, with Askin adamant that he got the better of their exchanges.

Askin’s manager Paul Speak said: “I wasn’t present at the time but that is what I am told – that Matty got the better of McCarthy.

“But as we all know sparring is completely different to what happens on the night in the ring.

“Matty will go into this confident and fearless, as he always is no matter who he faces.”

The British Boxing Board have ordered that the reigning British champion Ovill McKenzie should defend his British title against Craig Kennedy.

The rights to stage that bout has been won by promoter Frank Warren, with a date and a venue for the fight to be announced shortly.

The winner of that will go on to take on the victor of Askin versus McCarthy, who is a comparative novice compared to his St Annes rival.

McCarthy has a 100 per cent record of nine out of nine, including a career-best over Dickinson

Askin, a former ABA champion, will bring much more experience to bear when the duo eventually collide. He has won 20 bouts and suffered three defeats, all of them at top level.