'Battle of Brum' Finds British Boxing in Rude Health

British boxing is in rude health when a British middleweight title fight of the caliber of Matthew Macklin versus Wayne Elcock is overshadowed by the hype of Amir Khan's career-defining bout with Marco Antonio Barrera.

They meet at the Aston Arena tomorrow night, and the Battle Of Brum, as the promoter Mick Hennessy has labelled it, tells the story. These are two local fighters with big followings.

Macklin (23–2 with 16 stoppages) has gone through a few trainers and a couple of promoters (he was once with Frank Warren) and, at 26, reckons he is at his mature peak. Elcock, the 35-year-old champion with just nine stoppages among his 19 wins, against three defeats, is impatient for late-career success.

"It's a huge fight for Birmingham," Macklin said, "but it should have happened ages ago. Wayne's been British champion for over 18 months. He's kept me waiting, though I had to become the mandatory challenger to force the fight."

Tyson Fury, Hennessy's rising heavyweight, fights the experienced Lee Swaby on the undercard.

Swaby has an ordinary record – 23 wins, 22 losses and two draws – but ought not be wholly disregarded: nearly nine years ago, he knocked out Enzo Maccarinelli.

Maccarinelli was being lined up to fight Johnathon Banks for the IBF title, but the tough Pole Tomasz Adamek got in first and KO'd the American in Newark last month. So the Welshman, who has been considering a move to mixed martial arts, instead fights the Nigerian cruiser Ola Ofalabi (13-1-3) on the undercard of Khan-Barrera in Manchester for the interim WBO title.

Also on that bill, Dagenham's Nicky Cook, who saw off Alex Arthur so impressively in Manchester last September, defends his WBO super-featherweight belt against the unbeaten Puerto Rican Roman Martínez. Paul Smith of Liverpool contests the vacant WBA international super-middleweight title with dangerous but vulnerable Tanzanian Rashid Matumla.