Shout up if you want to see Josh Leather-Glenn Foot 2.
It may happen yet.
The British Boxing Board of Control have extended the purse bids process for a further month, meaning we’ll probably have to wait until the start of next season to see this Tees-Wear derby.
A BBBC statement read: “Following a request for a one-month postponement, the Stewards decided to put out the above contest to purse bids to be submitted in accordance with the Terms and Conditions attached to the Board’s Head Office by noon on Wednesday, 13th June 2018, the contest to take place by the end of September 2018.”
There was much excitement, especially among those with SR postcodes after the BBBC set Leather v Foot as their designated match for the British light-welterweight title which had been vacated by Jack Catterall.
The pair had produced an IBF European championship classic at the Metro Radio Arena last November when Foot was convinced he had beaten the Teessider.
However, the three judges ruled otherwise, with Leather stretching his unbeaten record via a unanimous points decision.
The BBBC played a blinder by ordering Leather-Foot for the British title before the end of July, but the excitement was soon dampened when promoter Frank Warren announced Josh would be fighting Ohara Davies in London next month over 10 rounds, a cracking match-up itself.
Foot has been booked to return to the Metro Radio Arena on Matchroom’s show on Saturday, June 16, when Sunderland’s Josh Kelly and Newcastle’s Lewis Ritson headline the Sky Sports-screened show. The Sunderland star will probably have a six-rounder.
That Newcastle defeat for Foot has prove a turning point in the career of ‘The Hammer’.
Far from deflating the 30-year-old, the Marley Pots hardcase has been a fighter re-born, stopping Jason Easton in March on Channel 5 to win the vacant Commonwealth title in Glasgow.
Fears that Leather would avoid Foot appear unfounded and, unless he gets a better offer on the back of his contest with Davies, it looks on. We’ll just have to wait a bit longer for it.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Jennifer Charlton
