Contender VIP announce super lightweight tournament for April 4
The hugely popular Contender VIP series will have its second installment on April 4, as the Manchester-based promotion are delighted to reveal that the next Contender VIP tournament will come from the super lightweight division.
British boxing has produced some excellent super lightweights in recent years with Josh Taylor leading the pack as he became unified world 140-pound champion and World Boxing Super Series Champion with a victory against unbeaten American Regis Prograis and, of course, Manchester legend Ricky Hatton who ruled the 10 stone division in the 2000s.
The new generation of super lightweights are set to show off their skills beginning on April 4, with four undefeated 140-pounders starting their campaign to win the latest Contender VIP series in mid-2020.
Contender VIP Promoter Mike Le-Gallez discussed the latest series of the Contender VIP tournament. He said, "We really wanted to go for a division that was prevalent in British and World Boxing right now and the super lightweight division is up there. Josh Taylor has just come unified world champion and he is set for a massive fight with Ramirez for all the marbles, so it's good to follow in those footsteps.
"Ricky Hatton was one of the best 140 pounders that many of us remember in our lifetime. We were delighted to have Ricky at our last show and putting on an event that will showcase the future of the 140 pound division to me is what Manchester boxing wants to see and we are committed to putting on all-action fights in one of boxing's most illustrious divisions. Ricky gave us all some amazing memories and we want to help progress the careers of fighters who will give us those types of memories in years to come."
The next Contender VIP event will be held at a bigger venue that the first two shows were held at in Manchester. Le-Gallez opened up about the decision behind the change in venues, "Basically the Hilton Hotel, which is a fantastic venue, became too small as the increased demand has made us have to explore new, larger venues, which we will announce in due course.
"What I can reveal right now is that the venues we are looking at will hold at least 1000 people. Those are the projections for our next show for ticket sales which may seem like a lot to some people, but we are confident that our style of promotion which includes fantastic entertainment prior and post the boxing action will be an event that becomes an unmissable one on the Manchester boxing calender."