Power gets Lonsdale chance for revenge over Hall

St Pancras' former British bantamweight champion Martin Power not only gets a chance to grab back the Lonsdale belt but also has a crack at revenge over the man who caused a shock by beating him last September, current champion Stuey Hall.

Every cloud has a silver lining - this match has been added to Frank Maloney's Sky-televised July 23rd show after Steve Molitor withdrew from an IBF super-bantam defence against Jason Booth due to a foot injury.  Whilst this fight has been put back to September 10th, Power gets an unexpected tilt at Hall who has agreed to a very quick first defence - the Darlington roofer only won the belt three weeks ago when Ian Napa retired after the eighth round.

“It's great to be given the opportunity once again to fight in front of my home fans," said the champion, "and I promise them fireworks before they go off on their summer holidays."

Power unsurprisingly feels like there will be a different result than the points win for the County Durham man this time around.

“I'm sorry to hear the news that Jason Booth's fight has fallen through but it is a great opportunity for myself to win a Lonsdale belt outright and it will be a different Martin Power than the one who lost to Stuey Hall in an overweight contest last September. And I have no problem travelling to his backyard."

It's not really Hall's backyard - the venue is Rainton Meadows in Houghton-le-Spring - but it is very close to the home of Olympian Tony Jeffries, who appears on the undercard.

Top of the bill is yet another vacant Commonwealth match, this time at super-bantam, between Matthew Marsh and Kris Hughes.  Another County Durham boxer, Nigel Wright, boxes for the vacant English light-welter belt against Dean Harrison.