Boxing: Hare can start to unravel championships muddle

James hare has not yet proved that he is the best welterweight in Britain but he is a world champion and tonight he meets South Africa's Jan Bergman at the Huddersfield Leisure Centre.

Hare is unbeaten in 27 fights and tonight he will simply be too young and too fast for Bergman who, at 33, is slowly passing his best.

The bauble on offer this evening is the World Boxing Federation welterweight title and it is something that Hare won a few months ago in the MEN Arena in Manchester. It will be different this evening for Hare's first defence in front of his hometown fans.

It is just a pity that Hare has been kept away from Britain's other leading welterweight but there is a slim chance that during the next six months Hare and other so-called world champions will finally start to fight the best at their weight in Britain instead of far easier imports.

Britain's other world champion at welterweight, Jawaid Khaliq, would make an ideal opponent. Khaliq holds something called the International Boxing Organisation title and both fighters are managed by Glasgow's Tommy Gilmour.

If Hare can beat Bergman in style then there is a real possibility that the muddle caused by so many British world champions at the same weight could in theory start to be resolved by competitive matches. Khaliq has already beaten Bergman and if Hare can do the same then the pair could meet.