Boxer Rose sets comeback date

He is to fight Jason Welborn at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on October 22 on the undercard of the headliner between Frankie Gavin and Sam Eggington.

It will be the Blackpool middleweight’s first ring foray since his points loss to Matthew Macklin back in April, since which time he has had keyhole surgery on an elbow injury that hampered him that night at the 02 Arena in London.

Middleweight Rose said: “A lot of people said after the Macklin fight that I should retire, but there were reasons why I lost that night.

“Everyone knows that the jab is my best weapon and I wasn’t able to use it against Macklin.

“It was a problem I had for a while and that’s why I got involved in some wars rather than use my jab.

“I had my first spar with it earlier in the week and I was a bit hesitant with it, but it was working; one of my sparring partners said he wished he had as hard a jab.”

Rose is looking forward to the Birmingham date on a number of different levels, not least the fact that he will be boxing in the city of his birth for the first time.

He said: “I could give up boxing and concentrate on the new gym that I am setting up in Blackpool; it would be quite easy for me to retire and make a living from that, but I am still hungry to fight and I know what I have left in me.

“The fight with Welborn will only be an eight-rounder, but it will prepare me for bigger things. It will be good to box in the city of my birth – I still have relatives there, so I will have plenty of support.”

The bill will be a Matchroom promotion and the first for Rose under the MGM banner.

It will be a massive night for Fylde Coast boxing; that evening, St Annes’ Matty Askin meets Tommy McCarthy in Bolton, in an eliminator for the British cruiserweight crown.