Curtis Woodhouse's boxing credentials will be further tested in a city where he plied his trade as a professional footballer.
The improving Driffield welterweight [pictured] will meet four-time European title challenger Giuseppe Lauri on a Dave Coldwell-promoted bill at Birmingham's New Bingley Hall on March 2 with the knowledge a British title fight could be on the horizon.
Although he'd never fought with gloves until his paid debut in 2006, the ex-Coldwell and now Glyn Rhodes-trained East Yorkshireman has been molded from a wide-eyed, raw-looking, light-hitting novice into a game, solid, well-schooled puncher to be respected.
And the former International Masters monarch recent in-ring performances mean that talk of his footballing career, which saw Birmingham City part with £1 million in 2001, should be permanently put to bed; it should now be Curtis Woodhouse the boxer and not Curtis Woodhouse the ex-footballer.
But he's had to survive a sizeable share of criticism to earn this well-deserved respect. Seen as little more than a novelty act who'd get humiliated by the first decent fighter he faced, resounding stoppage wins over respected trio Dean Hickman, Stefy Bull and, most recently [November 26], Gary McArthur perfectly illustrate the natural-born talent and tenacity that has taken him to 16 wins in 19 [11 early] contests.
Yet Lauri, 52-9 (31), could be the true acid test. He was still capable enough to contest the European 10st belt in September, losing via eighth-round retirement to Denis Shafikov in Finland, and there have been a few whispers that the well-traveled Italian might still know a little too much - even if he's coming off a two-round hammering by Levan Ghvamichava in October.
The 35-year-old former EU boss gave Irishman Paul McCloskey a solid argument for the same title last year - eventually knocked out in the eleventh - and some of his other notable defeats have arrived at the fists of a brace of ex-world champions from Britain, Ricky Hatton and Junior Witter.
But the way in which Curtis pushed undefeated 2007 World Amateur Champion Frankie Gavin to a 12-round split decision in July - in an outing he, by right, had no right to have been competitive in - shows this could be a perfect piece of matchmaking to increase his standing on both domestic and continental shores.
Incidentally, the 30-year-old has swapped leather in Birmingham before, on the undercard of Amir Khan's Commonwealth lightweight title defence against Michael Gomez at the National Indoor Arena in 2008 - and dismissed West Bromwich southpaw Wayne Downing in under 60 seconds with a brutal display of body-punching.
Woodhouse will be looking for a similar result next year.
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