Speight Would Love To Face Billy Dib on Haye 5/21 Card at O2

By Elliot Foster

Jamie Speight is hoping that he can get a slot on the undercard of David Haye’s next fight.

The featherweight fighter (13-8, 1 KO) was left disappointed earlier this month when his clash with former world champion Billy Dib (39-4, 23 KOs) was canned just a fortnight before it was set to happen.

Speight, 27, was expected to challenge the 30-year-old ex-IBF champion over 10 rounds in a non-title fight on January 16 at London’s O2 Arena.

But Dib suffered a hand injury in training, which scuppered the idea of the fight being chief support to Haye’s scintillating 131-second demolition of Mark de Mori in front of a capacity 16,000-strong crowd, exclusively live on UKTV channel Dave.

And Speight, whose nickname is ‘The Genius’, is looking to get the showdown with the Aussie rescheduled for the same bill as Haye’s return on May 21 at the same venue in the capital.

“Hopefully [I can get a spot on the show],” Speight told Boxing Scene.

“[I] will just have to wait to hear from David and my team, [but] I know Billy Dib still wants the fight.

“I want nothing hand-fed to me in boxing. All I’ve ever asked for is opportunities and this is a huge one, so I’d be over the moon [if the Dib fight could be rescheduled] and what a privilege it would be to share the ring with a fighter of his calibre.”

Speight’s last outing was a disappointing stoppage defeat at the hands of Isaac Lowe for the English featherweight title last September.

But despite looking to get back on the horse in March in a scheduled clash against Matthew Chanda (5-0, 2 KOs) for the vacant Southern Area title, he expressed his sadness at the fact that he had prepared for the Dib clash and ended up not fighting.

“I was gutted,” he continued telling ‘Scene.

“I had trained very hard and prepared for the hardest 10 rounds of my career. I was bang on weight, gave up all of Christmas and New Year [and I] was even in the gym Christmas day!

“It was a real kick in the teeth, but it's boxing –– you just dust yourself off and go again.

“The day we found out it was off we were at St Joseph's gym in Wales, sparring with amateur star Joey Cordina and [IBF featherweight world champion] Lee Selby. We had done 10 rounds with them and came out of the spar very happy and positive.

“But I then text message from my manager [Steve Goodwin] to say Dib had broken his hand [and that was] hard to take.”

Tickets for the second instalment of David Haye’s return, which is promoted by Hayemaker Boxing, in association with Salter Brothers Entertainment, and licensed by the British Boxing Board of Control, go on pre-sale to O2 Priority customers at 9am on Wednesday, January 27 and will be on general sale from 9am on Friday, January 29 through AXS.com.