By Shaun Brown

Sam Eggington (17-2, 9 KOs) will defend his British and Commonwealth welterweight titles against challenger Bradley Skeete (22-1, 10 KOs) on March 5 at the NEC Arena, Birmingham.

After the bout went to purse bids (dated January 13) Eggington’s promoter Eddie Hearn came out on top against Skeete’s promoter Frank Warren.

Eggington vs. Skeete will be screened live on Sky Sports with the Yafai brothers, Kal and Gamal, also in title action against Anthony Nelson and Bobby Jenkinson respectively.

Skeete, the current WBO European welterweight belt holder, will challenge for the British and Commonwealth titles for a second time after losing out to Frankie Gavin in November 2014. Since that night in London Skeete has won four on the bounce against Anzor Gamgebeli, Brunet Zamora, Mark Thompson and Stevie Williams respectively.

Eggington was one of British boxing’s breakout stars of 2015 with four wins of his own. The 22-year-old, trained by Jon Pegg, captured the WBC International Silver welterweight strap against Shayne Singleton in March before adding Commonwealth and British honours by defeating Joseph Lamptey and Glenn Foot. Egginton rounded off his year with a 12-round unanimous decision over Dale Evans in his first defence of his newly won titles.

Shaun Brown is Boxing Scene’s UK News Editor.