Preview: Hughes and Galahad come head-to-head in Yorkshire derby

Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing present an intriguing lightweight contest between Leeds’ Maxi Hughes (25-5-2, 5KOs) and Sheffield’s Kid Galahad (28-2-0, 17KOs) at the Nottingham Arena on Saturday night.

The pair, who were originally set to fill the chief support slot before injury to Leigh Wood forced his fight against Mauricio Lara to be postponed, now take centre stage in a huge fight for both men’s careers, with Galahad’s trainer Dominic Ingle stating at the fight week press conference that the loser really has nowhere to go beyond this weekend. Hughes enters the evening in the form of his life which has seen him dispose of Jono Carroll, Jovanni Straffon and Ryan Walsh in the last three years, while Galahad finds himself at the opposite end of the spectrum having surrendered his featherweight world title against Kiko Martinez last year in a sensational comeback defeat in his home city of Sheffield.

YouTube player — BBTV caught up with promoter Eddie Hearn ahead of this weekend’s show in Nottingham.

While a strange setting for a Yorkshire derby to take place, the Nottingham Arena will no doubt be boisterous as the intriguing domestic showdown plays out in the East Midlands this weekend.

The atmosphere will no doubt be buoyed by a tasty Scotland versus England showdown at super-welterweight between world champion Hannah Rankin (12-5-0, 3KOs) and Terri Harper (12-1-1, 6KOs). The latter recently moved all the way up from super-featherweight as she looks to become a two-weight world champion, while Rankin has eyes on big unification bouts beyond this weekend having responded tremendously since her defeats to Savannah Marshall, Claressa Shields and Patricia Berghult in recent years.

Further down the card, welterweight Cyrus Pattinson (4-0-0, 2KOs) steps-up in a ten-round contest in just his fifth outing against France’s Jorick Luisetto (12-4-0, 3KOs), while heavyweight Solomon Dacres (4-0-0, 1KO) is scheduled for the same distance against Ariel Bracamonte (11-9-0, 6KOs). Tokyo 2020 Olympian Cheavon Clarke (2-0-0, 2KOs) makes his third professional appearance versus Marcos Karalitzsky (7-5-2, 2KOs) at cruiserweight, and Anthony Crolla protege Rhiannon Dixon (5-0-0) faces Edina Kiss (15-15-0, 9KOs) at lightweight. Super-welterweight prospect Junaid Bostan (2-0-0, 2KOs) takes on Anas Isarti (2-0-0), while Mohammed Sameer (4-0-0, 1KOs) of Peterborough faces Dale Arrowsmith (4-65-2) at middleweight.