GARY SYKES vs KEVIN O'HARA

After his close but well-earned win over Andy Morris to capture the British super featherweight title, Gary Sykes is back to make a quick defence when he meets gritty Kevin O’Hara in the main event on Sky Sports on Friday.

It is just nine weeks since Sykes’s fight with Morris, and today it is rare for a boxer to have two 12-rounders in such a short space of time. Still, although the fight with Morris was fast-paced and competitive it wasn’t what you could call a punishing bout and the Sykes team must feel that the unbeaten 26-year-old is fresh enough to go in again with another title fight.

Sykes will be fighting on his home ground in Yorkshire, at the same venue where he defeated Morris.

O’Hara, 28, from Belfast, earned another title chance after his brave performance in losing a unanimous decision to Ricky Burns in a Commonwealth championship challenge last June.

The fight with Burns was O’Hara’s finest showing. Sky Sports analyst Glenn McCrory had the fight a draw. Although I thought that Burns deserved the verdict he wasn’t happy under pressure and I thought O’Hara hurt him to the body in the later rounds.

O’Hara’s trainer, John Breen, has told the media in Belfast that his man has had particularly good preparation, taking a month off work to put everything he has into his training to give himself the best possible chance of winning.

So far, though, O’Hara has always come up short when he boxes in the next-level fights. He has never come close to being stopped and he has always given a good effort but he hasn’t been able to come out ahead against the better calibre of fighter. He has, though, gained in experience, and I would think that his spirited bid to upset the odds against Burns has given him a renewed sense of optimism. O’Hara must be thinking: “I wasn’t so very far away from winning that fight; this time I can do it.”

There does, though, seem to be a bit of a class difference in Friday’s fight. Sykes has found what was needed to prevail when he has faced his toughest tests, first when he outfought (and at one point almost overwhelmed) Anthony Crolla, then when he finished strongly to eke out the win over Morris.

What impresses me most about Sykes is his will to win. He had to dig deep against Morris and come from behind to win (online wagering had Morris at -275 after five rounds). There is a pleasing zest about the way Sykes fights, plenty of movement and high-volume punching, and he switches effectively to the southpaw stance, which can unsettle his opponents — I think that his switch-hitting allowed him to regain the initiative when things looked like slipping away from him in the bout with Morris.

Sykes should win, then, but I believe he faces a stiff challenge from a tough, motivated, well-prepared and perhaps improved O’Hara, and I don’t think the odds at the sportsbooks reflect how well-contested the fight might be. I will go for the logical outcome, which is Sykes by decision — a bit too much variety and a bit too busy for O’Hara, I think — but I believe he will have to fight at full stretch to get the job done.