LUKE Watkins’ shot at the Irish cruiserweight title has been confirmed, with the Swindon boxer taking on former champion Ian Tims on June 10.

Unbeaten Watkins, nicknamed ‘The Duke’, will be bidding for his 11th straight victory when he fights on the undercard of Lee Haskins’ IBF world bantamweight bout against Ryan Burnett in Belfast.

The 27-year-old, who is trained by Paddy Fitzpatrick at his Ferndale Road gym, was last in action on April 8 when he extended his unblemished record with a technical knockout win over Czech fighter Jiri Svacina.

Tims is 10 years Watkins’ senior and previously won the title in 2011 when outpointing Michael Sweeney over 10 rounds in Dublin.

That led him to a fight for the European Union title in January 2012 but he suffered the first defeat of his career when going down to a unanimous decision to Finland’s Juho Haapoja.

Tims currently boasts 13 wins from his 16-fight career, having also suffered three defeats, and last fought on March 24 when he knocked out Hungarian Attila Palko in five rounds.