Stourbridge’s Scott Evans will return to the ring on the Sky Sports bill in London – but Walsall’s Steve Gethin is unlikely to fight again until June.

Former British Masters champion Evans ends a 19-month absence, on the back of two knockout losses, with a light welterweight six-rounder against the unbeaten Phil Gill at the Olympia tonight.

Gethin was also due to be in action this evening, taking Jamie Speight in a four-round super featherweight contest at Chippenham’s Olympiad Leisure Centre, but has been forced to pull out.

The date clashes with a weekend football tournament at Butlins in Minehead where his son, Thomas, will be playing as a goalkeeper for Bloxwich’s under-7 team.

The 32-year-old also needs more time to recover from a long-running shoulder injury, which severely hampered his progress when he lost on points to Liam Richards for the British Masters title in March.

However, the Black Country boxer has been pencilled in to fight Michael Devine up at lightweight on June 4, on a show at London’s York Hall.

Gethin said: “I am hoping that, after a bit of a rest, my shoulder won’t be too bad when I come back properly.

“It’s an old injury and I still get a bit of pain from it but, hopefully, it will last a bit longer.

“I am going to start training a bit more next week and will be looking to get out whenever I can.”

Back when he was 17, Gethin tore a tendon in his left shoulder during a training session and had to have keyhole surgery.

But the veteran has vowed that, despite the nagging pain, the boxing career that started for him in the amateurs at age 11 will continue.

He said: “Boxing is hard to give up when you have been in it for over 20 years, every time I have a few weeks out I get bored.

“The money comes in handy and is a bonus, but I have fought some top kids and have always given them a hard fight.”

Outside of the ring, the search continues for 23 West Midlands fighters who are to be commemorated at a ceremony in June for their part in making boxing famous at London’s Shoreditch Town Hall.

The Midlands Ex Boxers Association (MEBA) are trying to trace the whereabouts of boxers who appeared at the venue between 22 September 1955 and 28 January 1975.

Of the list, MEBA believe that 10 of them are alive and well and still living in the West Midlands area, so are appealing for news of their whereabouts.

The men in question are Brian Cartwright, Al Carson, Peter Boddington, Tony Riley, Colin Quirke, Colin Spittle, Harry Edwards, Terry Edwards and Billy Belnavis.

MEBA can be contacted on 01299 879 907.