By Elliot Foster
Lee Haskins will travel for the next defence of his world title.
The IBF bantamweight champion retained it with a controversial points decision over Stuart Hall in a rematch on September 10, live on Sky Sports Box Office, as part of the undercard to Gennady Golovkin’s world middleweight title defence against Kell Brook at London’s O2 Arena.
And now 32-year-old Haskins (34-3, 14 KOs), who won the belt by default after ex-king Randy Caballero lost it on the scales for failing to make weight for their showdown last November, looks set to squeeze in another fight before the end of the year, having made his first defence in May against Ivan Morales of Mexico.
Bristol’s ‘Playboy’ will put his crown on the line in Japan, as part of a triple-header.
He’ll box on December 31 against a man nine years his junior in the shape of former Japanese bantamweight champion Shohei Omori.
Omori has a record of 17-1 with 12 early endings and the southpaw’s only defeat to date is to the current WBO king Marlon Tapales, who knocked him out inside two of 12 scheduled rounds last December.
The clash between Haskins and Omori will take place at the Shimazu Arena in Kyoto and was first reported by Asian Boxing, who have since alerted Boxing Scene to the fact that the promoter has made the fight official.
Haskins-Omori will feature on a card, promoted by Woz Promotions, which will also showcase Jonathan Guzman’s defence of the IBF super-bantamweight title against Yukinori Oguni and Kazuto Ioka’s WBA flyweight world title defence against Yutthana Kaensa.
Haskins said on social media that fight news would be revealed soon and there has yet to be a formal announcement of the battle in the UK.
Further details will be disclosed by the relevant parties in due course.
