World stage awaits winner of Sheffield boxing derby

The Sheffield boxers meet on Friday night at Ponds Forge to dispute Sheedy's Commonwealth middleweight belt.

The fight has been criticised in some quarters, but promoter Hobson will have none of it.

He said fighters like Clinton Woods had emerged through the ranks to take titles like this on his way to IBF championship status.

And he believes the winner of this Sheffield derby will get similar opportunities.

Hobson says there is a Sheffield Wednesday v Sheffield United flavour to the event, as Sam is an Owl and Liam a Blade.

But he wants to see Sheffield football fans coming together in the boxing environment, the same as Manchester City and Manchester United fans did for Ricky Hatton.