Coyle title fight delayed until November

VIP Promotions' 'City Hall Showdown 4', due to take place at Hull's City Hall on September 28, has been postponed and will now take place on November 2.

The show was to be headlined by local favourite Tommy 'Boom Boom' Coyle, with Leeds' Josh Warrington in chief supporting role, and looked to be a great opportunity for the unbeaten pair to make significant career strides. 

Coyle was slated to  face Spanish veteran  Ruddy Encarnacion for the  WBC International Silver lightweight title and, if successful, would have gate-crashed the world top 20 rankings. Warrington, meanwhile, was to contest his first title against Michael Ramabeletsa  for the Masters featherweight strap.

"Basically the Spaniard pulled out and left us a bit stranded," explained promoter Steve Wood. "We were looking to get a suitable replacement in but, with the number of opponent changes Tommy's had for this show, we felt in the end it was best to rearrange it.  

"Let's not forget that, before this latest dropout, he'd prepared for four different opponents [Martin Gethin; Kieran Farrell; Carl Johanneson, and Tony Owen] who had all fallen by the wayside for one reason or another.

"Hopefully it's all worked out well in the end though because Tommy's now got a slot in Prizefighter on October 6, and Josh is scheduled to box for the English title on November 9. We're now just working on getting an opponent approved by the WBC so that Tommy can still fight for their belt on the new Hull date in November."

"I'm disappointed for the fans; there were a whole lot of people looking forward to it and I don't like to disappoint anybody," reiterated Tommy.  

"I've now got a great opportunity in Prizefighter though and, to be fair, all the fans in Hull understand. Everyone I've spoken to has said 'you've got to do Prizefighter', so they've all made me feel a lot better and they're all looking forward to November 2.

"Hopefully too, with showcasing my ability on Sky Sports, it will raise my profile and a few more will come to the November show that weren't going to originally.

"I'm very excited about Prizefighter and think I can do well.   It's Prizefighter at the end of the day and it's a risk but so is crossing the road! I've got nothing to lose and everything to prove.  

"I'm a young kid and I'll come back better and stronger for it.   I'll go in there, box to the best of my ability and hopefully come out doing really well and put on some exciting performances.  

"I'd like nothing more than to fight [Gary] Sykes, [Anthony] Crolla and Derry Matthews, in one way, shape or form.   I genuinely think if you're going to get a loss then it should be to the best. So, I'd love to fight those three in any order."