'I would fight McPhilbin tomorrow,' says Askin

Matty Askin is in a hurry to get to grips with British cruiserweight champion Shane McPhilbin.

The Blackpool hitter (12-0) faces John Lewis Dickinson in a title eliminator this spring, with the winner challenging for a Lonsdale belt later this year.

Askin, 23, warms up for the Dickinson test when he meets Hungarian Attila Palko (12-1) over six rounds at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium on Saturday's card headlined by Scott Quigg v Jamie Arthur.

He said: “I would fight McPhilbin tomorrow if I could. That is how confident I am of beating him. It looks like McPhilbin will squeeze in a voluntary against Tony Conquest before the mandatory against myself or Dickinson.

“I hope that after beating Dickinson I challenge Conquest because he will be a much harder fight than McPhilbin. No disrespect to McPhilbin, but if he wasn’t British champion there wouldn’t be too many people interested in fighting him.”

Palko, 25, has knocked out ten of his 12 victims and insists he can shatter Askin’s title aspirations.

Askin added: “I am going into the fight blind because I cannot find any DVDs or fights on YouTube. I know vaguely what Palko looks like from one picture, but my trainer Bob Shannon and I have a game plan that will see us through.”