New date for Chris Male v Joe Murray

Cradley's Chris Male has been told "it's 90 per cent certain" that his fight with Joe Murray for the English featherweight title will be rescheduled to February 4.

Male and Murray were set to clash at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester tonight, but the show was cancelled after Sky Sports pulled the plug on their live television coverage.

But there's still a contract with Ricky Hatton's promotional company for the fight to take place and Male has been given a tentative date for next year.

The Reebok Stadium in Bolton has been mooted as a venue, on what could be the first Hatton Promotions bill of 2012, headlined by a British title defence involving either Scott Quigg or Gary Buckland.

And Male, who saw over three months of training go to waste when the fight was called off last week, is glad to have something to strive for again.

He said: "My manager has told me it's 90 per cent certain, we know what the game is like and we have heard the fight will be in Bolton.

"It's been a disappointment for me, so I am glad to have got a date again. I just hope nothing happens this time, because I really would be devastated.

"This fight means absolutely everything to me."

The punching postman has warned Murray the contest will be taken to "new levels of fitness" the second time around, with both fighters preparing to face the other for six months.

Male was back in training at Shaun Cooper's gym in Brierley Hill this week and will be at full pelt before Christmas, which has been 'cancelled.'

He said: "There will be no Christmas for me, I will be training all the way through but, as long as the date is there, that doesn't bother me.

"I am just ticking over in the gym at the minute, but in two or three weeks I will be training hard again.

"I was a bit depressed last week but that training camp has gone now, it's forgotten, and I have got my mind focussed on the next date now.

"Joe Murray is a really good fighter, he's been to the Olympics, and I have got to be on the ball for it.

"But, in this fight, fitness will definitely be taken up another level.

"I was fitter than ever for the last fight but, this time, I will have even more endurance and stamina. If he takes his foot off the gas, then he's a fool."