British light welterweight champion Jason Rowland, from Rettendon, will be fighting for world title glory on Saturday, June 24.

Rowland, 29, will be up against unbeaten IBF champion Zab Judah in the chief support contest on the Mike Tyson versus Lou Saverese bill in Glasgow.

This will undoubtedly be the biggest and toughest fight to date in the career of Lonsdale Belt holder Rowland.

He will certainly have his work cut out to wrest the title from the formidable southpaw American who has earned 22 wins and a draw from his 23 contests.

However, Rowland, who is trained by Jimmy Tibbs and promoted by Frank Warren, has a pretty good record of his own, having won all but one of his 25 contests to date.

And how that defeat still wrankles: "It was about four years ago. I was up against Bernard Paul who threw a punch as the bell for the end of the round sounded, but the punch did not connect until afterwards.

"I still think the fight should have been declared a no-contest," claimed Rowland defiantly.

"Other than that, I have a good record. I've stopped at least 16 or 17 of my opponents, and I won the British title two years ago when I beat Mark Winters at York Hall, Bethnal Green."

Rowland last defended his title against the impressive, but now banned and disgraced John Thaxton, winning in the fifth round last November.

The moment Rowland steps onto the scales for his world title contest he will be obliged to to relinquish his British title.

Originally, his world title bid had been set for May 20 in the Fila Forum, Milan, but it has now been put back a few weeks because top of the bill Tyson would not have been ready.

Prophetically, Rowland said a few weeks ago: "I could give up the British title now but, if the Milan fight doesn't happen for some reason, I'd have given it up for nothing."

The thought of facing Judah has not daunted him: "I've watched videos of Judah. I think I've got a better jab if I can work around him for a couple of rounds, but you can't take anything away from him - he's a good champion with fast hands.

"I know some people have me down as an underdog, but that suits me fine. If I can match Judah for a few rounds who knows what might happen?

"Judah has fought several older fighters who haven't thrown too much back at him, but my jab is like a lethal weapon."

There's no doubt Rowland has come a long way since his first training sessions at the legendary Repton amateur club.

With any luck, this popular young man can add his name to the already lengthy list of Repton old boys by bringing a world title back to Essex.

Picture, top: Rettendon's British champion Jason Rowland proudly shows off his Lonsdale Belt.

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