OVILL McKenzie is to get another chance to bring a British title back to Derby later this year.
The British Boxing Board of Control has named the 33-year-old Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion to fight for the vacant Lonsdale Belt against Bob Ajisafe.
The match has been put out to purse bids and is to take place before the end of September.
McKenzie's chance has come because British champion Tony Bellew has been stripped of the title. He has a rematch against the Malawian, Isaac Chilemba, in an eliminator for the WBC world championship at the O2 Arena on May 25 and is unable to take on a mandatory defence against Ajisafe.
Bellew and Chilemba drew in their first meeting at the Echo Arena at the end of March.
This will be the second time McKenzie has fought for the British title, the first being his second meeting with Bellew in July 2011, when he was tactically outwitted and outpointed in Liverpool.
It will also be a second meeting with Ajisafe, the 28-year-old Nottingham-born boxer with an 11-2 record who took an eight-rounder by one point on a low-key show in Leigh in April 2009, but manager Mike Shinfield says McKenzie is a much better boxer these days.
"Around that time, it was difficult to get Ovill a fight and we often had to take them at very short notice," said Shinfield.
"Since then, he has been able to prepare properly and his record shows how that has been a benefit to him.
"It was a very close fight with Ajisafe last time but most people thought Ovill had done enough to win it. Ajisafe was a right mess at the end of it."
Ajisafe is an awkward southpaw with a stinging punch who did have Bellew on the canvas in the fourth round of their meeting for the Commonwealth title in September 2010 but went on to lose a points decision.
McKenzie is the bigger hitter, who has stopped his last three opponents in winning and successfully defending his Commonwealth title twice, and has a 21-11 record overall.
He was due to have a Commonwealth rematch against Enzo Maccarinelli last month but that was postponed because the champion suffered a knee injury.
McKenzie has also been put forward for an EU title fight against Poland's Dariusz Sek but Shinfield says the British title is the one the Jamaica-born fighter wants most of all.
"Ovill only got his British passport a year or so ago after living here for quite a while and it would mean a lot to him to be British champion," he added.
"The Lonsdale Belt is the best in the world and to get one of those strapped around your waist is a very proud moment for any boxer."
