Chris Male's chance with the Hattons

Cradley's Chris Male plans to use next week's six-rounder on Sky Sports to make a statement to Joe Murray - and Ricky Hatton.

The punching postman boxes on the Hatton Promotions show at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan next Saturday night, on the same bill as Olympian and fellow featherweight Murray.

A fight for the English title between Male and Murray was put out to purse bids last month and, even though there were no offers, it could still happen.

And ' the Male Man' hopes it will open the gateway to a multi-fight deal with the Hattons, which could be the key to landing the big domestic title shots.

But the 28-year-old will step to super feather for the bout next week, taking on former Welsh champion Dai Davies.

Davies' record reads like a who's who of boxing at the lower weights, having been in there with the likes of Derry Mathews, Rendall Munroe, Jason Booth and Jamie Arthur.

An experienced opponent, Davies also holds a draw with current European bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell and has won Welsh titles at two weights, feather and super feather.

It could be Male's hardest test to date but it's the chance to show the Hattons what he can do, the one-time British Masters featherweight champion admits.

He said: "Obviously, I am going to want to look good for Ricky Hatton, they are big up-and-coming promoters in this country and I am going there to make a statement, that I am one of the best featherweights in the country.

"I have seen Davies fight a couple of times, he's really strong and pushes the prospects hard, he's no joke and I wanted somebody I could get up for.

"But the top guys seems to be able to get him out of there later on and that's my goal."

The Hattons want to take a look at Male first-hand, before deciding whether to make and stage the fight with Murray for the English title.

Male said: "I want a shot and, if I am going to be a British champion, I am going to have to go through these sort of blokes.

"He's a terrific fighter but, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. There's no point me in the business if I am worried about people and Joe Murray doesn't worry me at all.

"I think I will beat him and he's got to change my mind for me."

Male has already turned down an English title shot at super feather against Ben Jones, which went to Akaash Bhatia who was stopped in eight rounds.

Offering the fight at short notice was the problem, according to Male.

He said: "The situation was a joke, they told me he was going to fight but they wanted me to take it at three weeks notice, on a Sky Sports show.

"I said 'hang on a minute, nobody watching on television would have known that I had less than proper notice and only bums take fights like that.'

"I told them if they wasn't going to come with a serious offer, don't bother coming at all."

As expected, there were no purse bids for the proposed British cruiserweight title fight between Stourbridge's Rob Norton, the champion, and English belt holder Terry Dunstan.