Ijaz Ahmed and Marcel Braithwaite weigh in for an historic Dudley fight

The two go head-to-head for the super flyweight crown at the Town Hall – the first time the Lonsdale strap has been on the line in Dudley since Crawford Ashley defeated Roy Skeldon for the light heavyweight title at the same venue in July 1991.

It is also the first British title fight to take place in the Black Country for nearly five years and, even more remarkably, has been scheduled at little more than a week’s notice.

Meanwhile, Liam Gould is looking to make it three wins from three at the start of his professional career.

Gould, from Coseley, has had two previous professional fights which he won by points decision on both occasions. He beat MJ Hall in October and George Rogers in December with the scores being 40-36 both times.

“All of my training has been ramped up and I’ve been hard at it since the new year,” he said. “I was told on the night of my last fight that I’d be out again in March, which was ideal.

“I had George Rogers, that time, and he was a bit negative. He didn’t want to engage and was tough to break down, because he was on the run so much. I did hurt him in the second round. I caught him with a counter right hand and that really wobbled him. I rushed in and smothered my work, so we’ve been working on that in the gym.”