By Shaun Brown

Ryan Burnett’s first defence of his IBF bantamweight title will be announced tomorrow (August 2) on Sky Sports News.

Promoter Eddie Hearn took to Twitter to tell fans the news and confirmed that Burnett will be fighting at home in Belfast, once again, on October 21 at the city’s SSE Arena.

Burnett (17-0, 9 KOs), trained by Adam Booth, won the IBF strap at the same venue in June with a comfortable unanimous decision over then champion Lee Haskins. A result that had to be overturned from a split decision thanks to the farcical 118-108 (Haskins) scorecard turned in by judge Clark Sammartino, who later admitted he had got the fighters mixed up.

Rumoured to be in the opposite corner on October 21 is the WBA Undisputed champion at 118lbs Zhanat Zhakiyanov (27-1, 18 KOs). The 33-year-old Kazakh gave former two-weight world champion Ricky Hatton, who once trained Burnett, his first world title as trainer after Zhakiyanov dethroned Rau’shee Warren with a split decision win in February in Ohio.

Zhakiyaniov is no stranger to fighting in the UK having fought there three times, his last visit coming in April 2014 when he won the European title knocking out Karim Guerfi in five rounds in Sheffield.