Exclusive – Haskins heads to Marrakech in search of action instead of sun

Bristol’s forgotten man, Lee Haskins, has accepted a short-notice assignment in Morocco next Thursday (14 July) in an attempt to get his once promising career back on track.

The 27-year-old switch-hitter will challenge Mohamed Bouleghcha in a 12-rounder for the IBF International and WBA inter-continental bantamweight titles at Place Jamaâ in Marrakech. The fight will be televised live on Eurosport.

Haskins has been restricted to only one outing, a fourth round stoppage over Fikret Remziev in April, since outhustling Don Broadhurst for the British and Commonwealth super-flyweight titles 18 months ago. A planned European flyweight title challenge to Italy’s Andre Sarritzu was aborted on three separate occasions and Haskins suffered further frustration on Tuesday when he was stripped of his Commonwealth crown for his failure to defend it.

”Its been an extremely frustrating time for Lee. We kept getting messed about by Sarritzu’s handlers to the point where the EBU decided to strip him, only to then reinstate Sarritzu as the number one contender! Fighting Bouleghcha, who is ranked 11 by the WBA, is a great opportunity for Lee to break into world class,” explained Haskins’ manager, Chris Sanigar, who telephoned BoxRec News to reveal today’s developments.

”While Lee is taking this fight at short notice, he’s in shape and this clearly shows that he’s prepared to take a gamble in order to prove himself. Some of my finest moments in Boxing have come on the road with Glen Catley and I’m hoping that this is going to be another one,” Sanigar added.

The 29-year-old French-based Bouleghcha claimed the WBA and IBF stepping-stone belts with a unanimous points victory against Michael Arango in April. Bouleghcha possesses a patchy 16-5-2 (4) record but has lost only one of his last nine fights, including winning has last four and will be expected to prevail over Haskins, 21-2 (11),