By Elliot Foster

Liam Walsh and Troy James will finally meet in the ring this spring.

The long-awaited showdown, which seems to have been a regular fixture in the British Boxing Board of Control circulars for about the past six months, will take place later this month.

Undefeated Walsh (19-0, 13 KOs) and James (18-2-1, 5 KOs) will meet for the former’s British super featherweight crown on April 30 at London’s Copper Box Arena, exclusively live on BoxNation.

Walsh, from Cromer, has been out of action since suffering a hand injury in the build up to his WBO world title eliminator against Petr Petrov and hasn’t been in the ring since last July when he stopped Brazil’s Isaias Santos Sampaio to win the vacant WBO Inter-Continental belt up at lightweight, while 32-year-old James from Coventry has fought just once in the past 18 months –– a six-round points win over Youssef Al Hamidi in February.

Also on the bill, Ryan Walsh, the brother of the aforementioned Liam, defends his British featherweight crown against mandatory challenger James Tennyson, while Anthony Nelson defends his Commonwealth super flyweight title against undefeated Belfast man Jamie Conlan and the vacant European cruiserweight title is on the line when Ovill McKenzie meets Dmytro Kucher.

Elsewhere, Lewis Pettitt will fight for the second time in just over three months as he looks to mount a comeback after losing to Bobby Jenkinson last September and heavyweight sensation Hughie Fury, who has signed a deal to fight on BoxNation, is set for an international title fight.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev Singh Sahota will make his professional debut alongside Vijender Singh, the undefeated Indian middleweight sensation who is gearing up for his June homecoming.

And Billy Long, Boy Jones Jr., Barney Joe Jones, DP Carr and Sammy McNess, as well as Ricky Hatton-promoted Nathan Gorman, complete the card.