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Lee Haskins will hit the road for a fight in Belfast on June 10, facing hometown challenger Ryan Burnett, with Haskins’ IBF bantamweight title at stake in the bout.
Haskins (34-3, 14 KO) won the title at the scales in late 2015 when Randy Caballero missed weight, and made a pair of successful defenses in 2016. He beat Ivan Morales in May, and then followed up in September with a win over Stuart Hall. The 33-year-old veteran has won eight in a row overall.
Burnett (16-0, 9 KO) is the current British bantamweight champion, beating Jason Booth for the vacant title in 2015, after Haskins had held the title. The 24-year-old has defended that title once, beating Ryan Farrag in October of last year, winning two fights between those bouts, and a recent fight in February as a tune-up. Burnett is trained by Adam Booth.
“Lee Haskins has been about, he’s been in the game a long time so he’s probably been in this situation before,” Burnett said. “But the Belfast crowd are proper, they are very passionate for their fighter and will be making plenty of noise on the night for me.
“I’m only 16-0, 24 years old. I’m still new to this level. But this is definitely the right fight for me at this stage of my career. I know I’m capable of stepping up.”