KELVIN Young will look to become a two-weight Southern Area champion this summer.

The 28-year-old is aiming to continue his rise up the light-heavyweight rankings when his faces former English title-challenger Jack Morris on July 16 at York Hall.

Young, who won the British Challenge belt last month with a third-round stoppage success over Chris Hobbs in Portsmouth, was a Southern Area champion at super-middleweight in 2013.

Now, the Penhill pugilist is relishing his chance to get fight at the home of British boxing.

“It has always been an ambition of mine to fight at the York Hall,” Young said.

“I can’t thank Keith Mayo (manager) and Steve Goodwin (the show’s promoter) enough for making this happen.”

Morris, who lost on points to Tom Baker for the English title last month, will come as no stranger for Young after the pair sparred last year.

The 33-year-old, from Margate, was also out-pointed by Swindon’s Lawrence Bennett, who had Young’s trainer Joe Wrona in the corner, in March 2014 for the Southern Area cruiserweight title.

“You can’t read too much into that loss against Lawrence,” Young said.

“Morris was not really a cruiserweight, he’s a strong light-heavy. Also, Lawrence is a southpaw and I’m orthodox.

“We sparred over two days last year and they were very competitive. I’d say I edged the first day and he the second.

“If the spars are anything to go by, then this is going to be a great fight.”

Having come close to retirement following his first-round stoppage defeat to former Premier League footballer Leon McKenzie live on Sky Sports, Young has a renewed zest for the sport, with the hope of another television fight on the horizon.

“Before the Hobbs fight, I was looking at retiring,” Young said. “I’d lost the heart for it after the TV fight.

“Then I got the call for Hobbs fight on a Goodwin show in Portsmouth – I only had two weeks' notice for it as well.

“I think that Goodwin had two fights lined up for Hobbs, so now I have got the opportunity.

“The first one is against Jack Morris and the second one will be on the undercard of a big show in September, but I can’t really say too much about that at the moment.”