THE British Boxing Board of Control have paved the way for Swindon crusierweight Lawrence Bennett to challenge for the English title after putting out a contest with holder Matty Askin to purse bids.
Southpaw Bennett, 32, was recently ranked 74th in the world by the International Boxing Organisation (IBO) in their April rankings following his stunning first-round stoppage of Jamie Hearn at the York Hall last month.
The BBBoC have now set a deadline of noon by Wednesday, May 13 for purse bids for a fight against Askin to be made, with the contest to take place by the end of July.
'Bad Boy' Bennett was hoping to become the mandatory challenger for the English crown despite Askin toying with the idea of hanging up the gloves following his points loss to British and Commonwealth title holder Ovill McKenzie.
He was originally ordered to face Tony Conquest in an English title eliminator but former Commonwealth champion Conquest withdrew from the purse bids.
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