Bourke vs Lane For British Title Headlines TNT Sports Fight Night On March 22
- Chris Bourke will fight Ashley Lane for the vacant British Bantamweight title
- Hutchinson, Royston Barney-Smith will see action on Bourke vs Lane undercard
- Bourke vs Lane headlines at the York Hall on Fri, Mar 22 live on TNT Sports
- Saturday, March 23: Dalton Smith vs Jose Zepeda & Sandy Ryan vs Terri Harper
Chris Bourke challenges for the British bantamweight title against Ashley Lane on a night of triple title action at York Hall on Friday, March 22, live on TNT Sports.
Bourke (13-1, 8) previously unsuccessfully challenged for the British title at super bantamweight against Marc Leach in early 2022 and is now seeking to reboot his career at the weight below.
“This is what I wanted and it is why I went down to bantamweight,” explained the Streatham puncher, 29, who trains out of the Peacock Gym in Epping. “I am aiming to make a statement and then move on from there.
“I’ve got no injuries this time and I am just ready to do the business.
“Ashley Lane has been around for a long time, is very experienced and has been in the ring with a lot of good fighters, but I just feel like this is the perfect fight for me. He stopped Jordan Purkiss for the English and I saw the good, heavy knockdowns.
“He looked good, but this is my time now, I’ve got to go in there, make a statement and start making waves in the bantamweight division this year.
“This is a bit like phase two for me now in my career. Before my loss everyone was talking about me and then it all went quiet and my name wasn’t really getting mentioned.
“I feel like this is my opportunity to put myself back out there and get people excited again.”
Bourke vs Lane Undercard
Also in championship fights is top young light heavyweight Willy Hutchinson (16-1, 12 KOs), who will defend his WBC International title against Martin Houben (17-2, 10 KOs) from Germany.
One of the top prospects in British boxing, Royston Barney-Smith (8-0, 4 KOs) faces Jose Manuel Perez (11-11-1, 8 KOs).
Heavyweight sensation Moses Itauma (7-0, 5 KOs) is set for his eighth professional outing before fighting on the May 18 Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk undercard.
2020 Olympian Luke McCormack makes his professional debut after finally securing his boxing licence in a difficult process which has stopped him from competing in the pro ranks for more than two years since his Olympic nomination.
Sean Noakes (6-0) vs Marian Wesolowski (4-12-1) – six rounds welterweight, Sonny Liston Ali (7-0) vs John Henry Mosquera (5-11) – six rounds super welterweight also feature on the undercard.
As do Queensberry newcomers Frankie Wood (debutant) vs Santiago Garces (4-24-4) – 4 rounds lightweight, Iman Zamatkesh (debutant) vs Pawel Strykowski (3-25-1) – 4 rounds cruiserweight and Nicola Barke (4-0) vs Hannah Baggaley (2-2) – four rounds super lightweight
Tickets for the fight night at York Hall, Bethnal Green on Friday, 22 March are on sale now, available at: ticketmaster.co.uk