Kal Yafai will return in May 13 homecoming bout

Yafai came of age last December after defeating Luis Concepcion for the WBA 115-pound title. Photo by Lawrence Lustig

Jan

British boxer-puncher Kal Yafai will make the first defense of his WBA junior bantamweight title at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham on May 13. The bout will be televised live on Sky Sports in the U.K.

Yafai, who is rated No. 6 by THE RING at 115 pounds, became Birmingham’s first world champion with a 12-round unanimous decision over Luis Concepcion on December 10 to claim the vacant title, and the unbeaten 27-year-old is now eager to headline his homecoming show.

“It’s a dream come true to be topping the bill in Birmingham as a world champion,” said Yafai. “Winning the title in Manchester was amazing, but Birmingham is the place I want to fight and to turn the Barclaycard Arena into my hometown fortress.”

Yafai’s opponent will be named soon and the Englishman is looking to make a big statement before looking to huge unification bouts in a star-studded division.

“The world champions at (junior bantamweight) are all top, top fighters,” said Yafai. “Roman Gonzalez is considered to be one of the pound-for-pound best and Naoya Inoue is a huge name in Japan and looks very impressive, so it’s an exciting division to be in.

“I want to prove that I can mix it with those guys and I need to kick my reign off in style on May 13 to do that.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn said, “December 10 was a great night for British boxing and a new star was born in Kal Yafai. He took a world champion to school.”

“After some successful show in Birmingham we can finally return to the city with a fully-fledged world champion. We have some outstanding fighters from the Midlands.”

An announcement on Yafai’s opponent, the undercard and ticket details will be made soon.

Information courtesy of a press release issued by Matchroom Boxing.

Tom Gray is a UK Correspondent/ Editor for RingTV.com and a member of THE RING ratings panel. Follow him on Twitter: @Tom_Gray_Boxing

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