By Shaun Brown

With Liam Smith vs. Shane Mosley now dead in the water the question is who will be in the opposite corner to Smith for his first title defence on December 19 at the Manchester Arena?

The current WBO light-middleweight champion, who won the vacant title last month against John Thompson, is without an opponent after a fight against Mosley, a former three-weight world champion but now 44 years of age, could not be agreed to.

On October 31, Boxing Scene’s Miguel Rivera reported that 32-year-old Carlos Molina (a former IBF 154lb champion) was in the running to take on Liverpool’s Smith on a show headlined by Andy Lee’s long awaited WBO middleweight title defence against Billy Joe Saunders. https://www.boxingscene.com/liam-smith-carlos-molina-clash-talks-12-19--97592

Boxing Scene understands that the unbeaten Jimmy ‘Kilrain’ Kelly (16-0, 7 KOs) is another name being considered as a foe for Smith in what is Frank Warren’s final show of 2015.

Kelly, 23, holds the WBO Inter-Continental light middleweight strap and last appeared on October 10 when he defeated Martin Fidel Rios wining that title in the process.

Kelly, who has never fought over the 12 round distance before, hails from Manchester and a bout against Smith would be a North-West of England showdown reigniting the well-known Manchester v Liverpool sporting rivalry.

In the recently published WBO rankings for October, Kelly had moved into a top 10 position at number eight.

One fight that Boxing Scene can confirm for the December 19 bill is between Wales' Liam Williams (12-0-1, 7 KOs) and Scotland's Kris Carslaw (22-5, 5 KOs) who will contest the vacant British and Commonwealth light middleweight titles, two championships recently vacated by Liam Smith.

Williams hasn’t fought since November 24, 2014 due to a serious hand injury and was talked in many circles as being a possible future world champion. Carslaw has challenged once for the British 154lb title after losing to Brian Rose in 2012.

Shaun Brown is Boxing Scene’s UK Editor. Follow him on Twitter @sbrown2pt0 or contact him at sbrownboxing@gmail.com