Matt Hainy will get the chance to win his second professional title in March - and potentially secure a rematch with a fighter who inflicted his most painful defeat.
The Derby middleweight will cross swords with Castleford's Luke Robinson for the vacant British Masters middleweight strap on a Clifton Mitchell bill at the Hermitage Leisure Centre - about 15 miles outside of Leicester city centre - trying to put the memories of his last contest to bed once and for all.
Hainy was taken off his feet four times, sliced open over both eyes, and relieved of his Midlands Area middleweight title in nine rounds by Martin Concepcion at the same venue last September, putting paid to a future English title challenge.
And though their heart-stopping scrap ranked as one of the best domestic fights of the year, it was little consolation to a 30-year-old ex-martial artist, 8-3 (1), making the second defence of a title he'd won from erratic Brummie Tony Randell eleven months earlier.
But Robinson represents a fresh danger to the East Midlander. With only one defeat in ten [eight wins and a draw, two early] - a three-round drubbing by Nottingham's Curtis Valentine in 2009, which left the Yorkshireman unconscious and in need of oxygen - the 23-year-old is the only man to have handed a paid defeat to former ABA champion Erik Ochieng, who challenges for the English 11st belt later this month.
The carrot-haired middleweight, however, has only boxed outside of Leeds United's ground, Elland Road, once and hasn't mixed, the Ochieng win aside, at the same level as the slimmed-down Duffield-based boxer, who has swapped leather with Tony Jeffries, Sam Horton, Tony Hill and the aforementioned Concepcion.
Though Hainy is itching to erase his last defeat, he's mindful of the tricky-looking assignment that's facing him on March 11. He said: "It was a bad loss in September - a heart-breaking one that took me a while to get over. But that's in the past and now all i can do is keep winning and, if i get the chance, put things right.
"I boil down from light-heavyweight and aside from Concepcion, I've only lost to bigger men in my career, and that shows what the extra weight can do," reasoned a Clifton Mitchell-trained scrapper who began life as a professional at 12'7.
"We'll do a lot of work in the gym and i'll be setting the pace like i always do. We'll see if Luke can keep up with me," he added.
Fight of the year? WThis is what boxing once represented, what people came to see, Two men slugging it out and the last man standing takes all. We aint gunna see round 10, i can tell you that for nothing. My doe's on Robinson taking home the belt. he deserves it, Hainy as proven or more than one occassion he's just not good enough. People wont be aware of this but Robinson as sparred(and more then held is own) the likes of Mathew Macklin and Prince Arron, among others. I feel it's is time. "GO LIONHEART!!!"
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