The British Boxing Board of Control has ordered Belfast bantamweight sensation, Ryan Burnett, to face Doncaster’s Comonwealth champion, Jason Cunningham, for the vacant British title.

Burnett, a 2010 Youth Olympic gold medalist, had previously been granted a British title eliminator with Jason Booth, however he has now been given the chance to jump straight into the title bout

Burnett holds a perfect 10-0 record with eight knockouts. Cunningham [16(6)-2(0)] is a former English champion and won the Commonwealth belt in his second attempt earlier this year with a stoppage victory over Tanzania’s Nasibu Ramadhani. The Yorkshire southpaw’s two defeats have come against strong opponents – Jason Booth and Ross Burkinshaw.

Burnett, at 23, is two years younger than Cunningham. There is also a shared history of opponents – with both having faces Isaac Owusu and Csaba Kovacs. Cunningham stopped Owusu after five rounds in 2014 and outpointed Kovacs over eight rounds earlier this year. Burnett, on the other hand, stopped both of these opponents in the second round

The BBBoC have ordered that the fight between the bantamweight pair must occur before November. Cunningham is scheduled to headline a show in Doncaster on August 29th versus an as-yet unnamed opponent – could this perhaps be Burnett?