Ulsterman Brian Magee will put his world title on the line against toughArgentinian Julio Cesar Vasquez on February 22 in Huddersfield. Magee's bout against Vasquez will be on the same bill as James Hare's latest Commonwealth welterweight title defence. IBO super-middleweight will hope to provide a more edifying spectacle than that which ensued when he faced Jose Spearman in what was a rather dull encounter in his last defence.
Coach Harry Hawkins has no doubt that former world champion Vasquez, who has an impressive record of 64 wins and six defeats, will bring out the best in the Belfast man. Hawkins said: "Vasquez has been there and done it all and we know that he knows only one way to box - and that's to come looking for a fight. That will suit Brian but we know it's going to be tough, it's a fight that will test Brian and hopefully bring him on."
He added that: "There was some talk last year of Brian possibly fighting Vasquez so we managed to get a few video tapes of his fights then and they will help us a lot because there's not long to go before fight night. He has a first round stoppage of Ramon Britez on his record and of course Brian knocked out Britez in a round to win the belt. He also gave Robin Reid a hard night and only lost on points last year."
"We're just glad that everything has been finalised and that the deal is done. At one stage contracts had been signed for Dingaan Thoebela, another former world champion, to fight Brian but that fell through because the IBO wouldn't accept him. That was strange because Thoebela is ranked higher than Vasquez but he had some problem with the IBO and they didn't look favourably on him."
