Jamie Moore, who has really come in to his own in the past year with a string of impressive wins, defends his European light-middleweight title against experienced and crafty Ryan Rhodes in the main event on promoter Frank Maloney’s show in Bolton on Friday.

Maloney has billed the fight as “War of the Roses,” since Moore is from Salford in Lancashire and Rhodes from Sheffield in Yorkshire although I needed an internet refresher to remind me that the House of York was the white-rose faction in the struggles for the English throne against the House of Lancaster (red rose).

Moore is the obvious favourite in this fight. The sturdy southpaw is unbeaten in the past five years and he's in tremendous form, having crushed Michele Piccirillo and Roman Dzhuman in a total of five rounds in his last two fights. Piccirillo was at the end of his career and Dzhuman had been stopped in his last two fights but, nevertheless, Moore hadn’t been expected to steam right through them as easily as he did.

Rhodes is seen as the veteran but at 32 he is only a couple of years older than Moore, and with his slick-boxing style he hasn’t taken a great deal of punishment. Rhodes, too, is boxing very well at the moment, his seven consecutive wins including a unanimous decision over the capable South African, Vincent Vuma.

The fight has been given greater cachet now that the WBC has recognised it as a world title eliminator. This is surely the biggest all-British fight of the year and it should be a thriller.

Moore is the more powerful fighter and he is expected to be going right after Rhodes and keeping him under pressure. Rhodes is more of a sharpshooter, smart and elusive, with the trademark trickery associated with fighters who have been coached by old master Brendan Ingle.

This has been described as an all-southpaw fight, but Rhodes is a fluid switch-hitter: when he knocked out the game and aggressive Gary Woolcombe he did so with an overhand right from the orthodox posture. Rhodes boxed a fast, skilful fight that night. “That’s as good as I’ve seen Ryan Rhodes in a long, long time,” Sky TV analyst Jim Watt said afterwards.

Rhodes was British light-middle champion after only 11 fights and he was once seen as a rising star. He fought creditably in a WBO middleweight title challenge against Canada’s Otis Grant 12 years ago, losing a highly competitive fight on points, but he seemed to have peaked at a young age and suffered a couple of shock KO losses before rededicating himself and getting his career back on the right track.

Although Rhodes lost to Gary Lockett three years ago he had the supposedly bigger puncher down and almost out in the 10th round. Rhodes can be dangerous from either the southpaw or orthodox stance, and although Moore is strong and rugged he has had rocky moments, including a shaky win over old rival Michael Jones in July 2005 when he was dropped twice in the third round before rallying to overwhelm his opponent in the sixth.

The biggest risk for Moore on Friday, I feel, is if he gets reckless and runs into a big shot. Yet while this is a possibility, I have detected significant improvement in Moore’s technique. He keeps his hands up and uses the jab on the way in and he just seems to have become a more solid all-around fighter in the last couple of years.

Rhodes has fought as a middleweight and he is perhaps stronger physically than he’s given credit for being, but Moore’s body punches are strength-sapping.

Moore is the local fighter, with Bolton being just a short drive from his home in Greater Manchester, and he has a hunger for success and a confidence that will make him hard to beat. I can see Moore keeping steady but sensible pressure on Rhodes, and gradually catching up with him and wearing him down. An early win for Moore would really surprise me, but I’m thinking he can overrun Rhodes’s defences around the 10th or 11th round.