LAWRENCE Bennett will finally get his chance to fight for the English cruiserweight crown.

The Southern Area title holder will clash with reigning champion Matty Askin on October 17 at the York Hall.

The bout was originally supposed to take place this summer after promoter Frank Warren won the purse bid to stage the fight.

However, the 26-year-old from Blackpool, who set for a six-round contest on July 25, was forced to withdraw due to an injury and the contest was re-listed for purse bids.

Those bids were opened by the British Boxing Board of Control yesterday and it was Bennett’s promoter Steve Goodwin who won the right to put on the fight.

“It is nice that it is going to be on my own promoter’s show,” Bennett said. “But it doesn’t matter to me who stages the fight or where it is.

“I have been to Sweden and won; I was the away fighter in both my Southern Area title fights and won.

“This is my breakthrough fight. If I win this then the whole country will be talking about me.

“If I want to fight for a British title, then I have to beat Matty Askin.”

Having kept himself ticking over in the gym since his first round stoppage of Jamie Hearn in March, Bennett will head into a full training camp in a fortnight’s time.

“This is tough fight for me. He is the English champion, a former ABA champion and in his last fight he lost to Ovill (McKenzie) in a British and Commonwealth title fight,” Bennett said.

“I’ll be back in full camp in a couple of weeks, I’ve had a bit of rest but I always knew that this was going to be my next fight – I’m mandatory so it was always going to happen.”

Meanwhile, Kelly Morgan has finally been granted her professional boxing licence and is aiming to make her debut on July 18.

The Swindon-based former 2002 javelin Commonwealth Games bronze medallist is expected to face Hungarian Szilvia Szabados, who is ranked fourth in the world at middleweight, in Bath on the undercard of Malmesbury’s Joe Hughes’ English light-welterweight title fight.