KEITH Mayo is hoping to finalise an opponent for Kelvin Young’s first IBO super-middleweight inter-continental title defence by the end of next week.

The Swindon promoter was hoping to bring Frenchman Nicolas Dion over for the June 7 clash at the Oasis Leisure Centre.

However, that is now looking unlikely after the 32-year-old went to war for the Republic of Poland International super-middleweight belt with Maciej Sulecki on Saturday.

The boxer from Grenoble suffered a points defeat in Brodnica and while he was knocked down in the opening round and took a standing-eight count in the final session, Dion battled hard in the middle rounds.

Dion was left with little in the tank when the final bell went, however, Mayo is still trying to bring Dion over to face the Penhill pugilist.

“At the moment we are still looking at Nicolas Dion,” Young’s manager said. “But we are struggling to agree terms. We sent him another offer last Thursday and we are still waiting to hear back from him.”

With the prospect of having to look elsewhere for an opponent, Mayo is lining up another challenger from across the channel.

“There is another kiddy from France we are looking at,” he said. “We want to get it sorted so that Kelvin and (trainer) Richard (Farnan) can fine tune their preparations. But it is not as easy as everyone thinks.

“First we have to find an opponent who want to come over and box Kelv, then we have to get approved by the IBO and only then we can start talking money.

“But the aim is to get it sorted by the end of next week - fingers crossed.”

Mayo is also hoping to hear today whether the British Boxing Board of Control have given their approval over Lawrence Bennett-Chris Keane clash for a British title eliminator as chief support to Young’s bout.