Purdy Gets Dream Shot After Barker Injury

Lee Purdy will face unbeaten Gumersindo Carrasco for the IBF International welterweight title at Alexandra Palace on north London on September 8 live on Sky Sports – after Darren Barker has been forced out of the bill through injury.

Former British champ Purdy faces the Argentine Latino champion, who has a formidable 13 KOs from his 16 victories, and the two 25 year olds will take a huge step in their careers if they can land the title that Kell Brook has relinquished to give his stablemate a golden opportunity.

Purdy’s title bout becomes the chief support clash to Tony Bellew’s mouth-watering clash with Edison Miranda after Barker damaged tendons in his arm in a sparring session and unfortunately for the 30 year old, he has been advised that he will be unable to train again for a month.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for Lee and it promises to be a great fight against Carrasco, who brings a great knockout record to London,” said promoter Eddie Hearn.

“Lee is always in exciting fights and I’m sure that this occasion will bring the best out of him and the fans will love it, you only have to watch Carrasco on the internet to see what kind of war this is going to be.

“I am gutted for Darren as he’s been looking great in training and I know he was ready to get back to what he does best. The only good news is that it is a new injury rather than an aggravation of an old injury and we hope he will be back in action very soon.”

Exciting light middleweight star Erick Ochieng defending his English title for the second time against Southern Area champ Ryan Toms, hotly tipped Islington middleweight John Ryder will also be in title action while popular unbeaten Chris ‘The Flash’ Evangelou fights for the first title of his career when he tackles Danny Connor for the vacant Southern Area light welterweight title.

There are debuts for Team GB stars Iain Weaver and Martin Ward who hope to follow the example set by Kal Yafai when he stopped Delroy Spencer on his debut in July. Yafai fights for the second time as a pro, as does cruiserweight prospect Wadi Camacho and Ryan ‘Crash Bang’ Taylor completes the line-up in his seventh pro outing.

Tickets for the bumper night of championship boxing led by Bellew and Purdy are available now priced £40 unreserved, £60 ringside and £120 VIP from Matchroom Sport on 01277 359900 and www.matchroomboxing.com