Gary Corcoran subjected to change of opponent as Bradley Skeete vacates British belt for teammate Johnny Garton to contest
Bradley ‘Super’ Skeete (27-2, 12KOs) was all set to defend his British welterweight title against challenger Gary ‘Hellraiser’ Corcoran (18-2, 8KOs) on October 20 but has since decided to vacate the Lonsdale belt he has held for two-and-a-half years so that teammate Johnny ‘The Pexican’ Garton (22-1-1 9KOs) can have his turn.
Both Skeete and Garton hail from the same gym – iBox in Bromley – under the tutelage of double act Alan Smith and Eddie Lamm.
Skeete, 30, was scheduled for a fourth defence of his Lonsdale strap against Wembley’s Corcoran but has vacated the honours to move away from domestic level.
Peckham’s Garton, 31, was the English welterweight champion between 2016-2017 but landed the IBF European welterweight title last December to secure a world ranking.
Corcoran, 27, has collected two WBO Inter-Continental straps at two different weights – 147lbs and 154lbs – but was unsuccessful when stepping up to challenge for the WBO world welterweight title against then-champion Jeff Horn (17-0-1) last December.
The ‘Hellraiser’ gets a second crack at the Lonsdale belt at the division below his first attempt against super-welterweight titleholder Liam Williams (14-0-1) back in July 2016.
The world title contender’s only two losses to the aforementioned Australian and Welshman have both come in the 11th and penultimate round after being badly cut.
Garton’s sole career defeat came in a Prizefighter tournament way back in 2014 when he was overwhelmed by Sam Eggington (8-1) in the second round of their quarter-final fight, who went on to win the entire competition.
Both boxers are aggressive, come-forward fighters who are bound to meet in the middle for the full 12 rounds in what is likely to be a fight of the year contender.
Their headlining bout on October 20 will be promoted by Frank Warren with the venue and undercard yet to be announced.