KELVIN Young’s trainer Richard Farnan insists his IBO super-middleweight inter-continental champion will defend his title next month despite having to find a new opponent.

The Penhill pugilist was set to meet Morgan Le Gal at the Oasis Leisure Centre on June 7, however, the Frenchman lost his unbeaten record on Saturday night when he was stopped in the fifth round by Jessy Luxembourger.

That Le Gal defeat has now left Farnan and manager Keith Mayo frantically searching for new opponent for Young.

And while fight night is now less than three weeks away, Young must defend his crown or he could be stripped.

The 27-year-old should have defended the belt he won in December within 90 days, however, Young’s team managed to get the IBO to allow them extra time.

“Kelvin will defend his title on June 7,” Farnan insisted. “He has to, it is in the rules that he should have defended it within 90 days, but we have managed to stretch that.

“At the moment I have no idea who we can get, it is not ideal.”

Farnan admits that the fact that Le Gal went ahead with the fight against Luxembourger knowing that he had a potential title shot with Young on the agenda has left him extremely frustrated.

The TKO defeat means that Le Gal would not be licensed to fight in the UK for 28 days and it is also likely that the 25-year-old would have dropped out of the IBO rankings.

“I just can’t believe it,” Farnan said. “He probably didn’t get anywhere near the amount of money he would have got to fight Kelv.

“It would have been bad enough if he had lost on points, but to be stopped is a nightmare.

“Whoever we get now is only going to get around two weeks notice and it is probably going to cost more money to get them over here.

“It also means that we have less time to prepare for them, but that is something I’m not overly concerned about because I’m very, very confident in Kelv.”

Young’s manager and promoter Mayo has been working hard to find a new opponent for his charge since news of Le Gal’s defeat filtered through yesterday morning.

Mayo has already began negotiations with two opponents to face his Young Gun next month and he hopes that he will be in a position to confirm shortly.