Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has teased that a headline show could happen this year for unbeaten super-middleweight Taylor Bevan.
The 25-year-old from Southampton – who won a silver medal for Wales at the Commonwealth Games – improved his record to 8-0 as a professional on Saturday when he stopped Argentine Martin Ezequiel Bulacio in the second round of their fight.
Bevan has now beaten all eight of his opponents inside the distance, and Hearn wants to reward both him and his loyal fans who have travelled to support him in numbers across the country.
On Saturday around 200 of them were packed into the Copperbox Arena to back their man.
“No matter the time that Taylor’s on, those fans travel up from Southampton and it’s the same numbers all the time,” Hearn told BBC Sport.
“It’s about 200-odd coming up on a bus or a train and I think that’s unbelievable to support him like that.
“We will be in Southampton and he will headline this year, and those 250-odd fans will be a few thousand.”
After a tight opening round, Bevan settled into the contest on Saturday and increased the tempo in the second round.
The shot that called a halt to the fight was a sickening body punch that triggered a delayed reaction from Bulacio as he dropped to the canvas and failed to beat the referee’s count.
Bevan’s fight was one of the early ones on the bill and Hearn raised a big cheer from his supporters when he offered to buy them some drinks, external in an attempt to get them to stay and watch the rest of the night’s action, which was headlined by George Liddard and Tyler Denny.
“It cost me nearly a grand, it seemed like a good idea at the time,” Hearn joked.
“We thought we were going to get rounds tonight because that guy went 10 hard rounds with the double Olympic gold medallist (Arlen Lopez) but we only got two.
“When he headlines, it won’t be a British title fight yet and it’ll only be a few thousand fans to start but that’s how you build someone, like we are doing with George Liddard and did with Josh Warrington.
“We’ll ram in a few thousand to watch him, then move to British title level where he’ll start to sell out big arenas and one day dare I say it, you know what (St Mary’s Stadium).”