Booth faces Dean at the York Hall

JASON BOOTH makes the first defence of his British super-bantamweight championship when he faces all-action brawler Rocky Dean at York Hall, Bethnal Green on Tuesday June 30. The action packed card also features a fierce British featherweight title eliminator between Harrow's Sikh slugger Akaash Bhatia (14-0) and Welshman Jamie Arthur (14-2). A special attraction on the FTM bill sees Ireland's Olympic bronze medallist Darren Sutherland (3-0) make his London debut in a six round super-middleweight bout. Booth, 31, (32-5) has had terrible personal problems in the past, but an amazing run of form has seen his career soar. If Jason overcomes his latest challenge he will be on the brink of a showdown against his friend, European champion Rendall Munroe. Booth won his first British title almost ten years who when he was crowned flyweight champion and honours galore have followed him. He has also held Commonwealth flyweight, IBO super-flyweight titels and still holds the Commonwealth bantamweight crown.Nottingham's favourite fighting son stepped in as a last minute sub to challenge Liverpool's Mark Moran for the British 8st 10lb title in April and gave a arguably the best performance in his career, with a sixth round stoppage. Promoter Frank Maloney: "Jason will fight anybody and is absolutely fearless of any opponent. "If you ring him for a job the reply is 'where, when, how much, see you there.' "David Haye pulled out of a world heavyweight title with a bad back last week and asked for three weeks rest. Jason takes fights at three weeks' notice with a bad back! "I would love to get him a major world title fight and a clash with Rendall is possible although I don't know how they feel as they're pretty close." Thetford's Dean, 30, (14-10) is better than his record suggests and the former Southern Area featherweight champion is never in a bad fight. This will be his second crack at this belt, losing a majority verdict to Mark Moran last November and is determined to get it right.