Ezra Taylor had been hoping to bring his rivalry with British and Commonwealth light heavyweight champion, Lewis Edmondson, to a definitive end tonight.

Unfortunately, a hip injury ruled Edmondson out of the contest but the 31-year-old from Nottingham is still planning on making a statement against late substitute, Steed Woodall (20-3-1, 12 KOs).

The fight forms part of the undercard to the heavyweight contest between New Zealand’s WBO interim champion, Joseph Parker (36-3, 24 KOs), and his WBA counterpart, Fabio Wardley (19-0-1, 18 KOs). The action from London’s O2 Arena is available exclusively on DAZN pay-per-view.

Although Woodall’s shock knockout of the unbeaten and slippery Lerrone Richards in June 2024 should prevent the Taylor (12-0, 8 KOs) from overlooking the underdog, he is supremely confident of turning away Woodall.

So confident, in fact, that he already has an eye on the light heavyweight extravaganza that Queensberry are hosting at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena next weekend.

The headline fight between Joshua Buatsi and Zach Parker looks like having world title implications for the winner.

Taylor has ambitions of eventually competing at that level but - providing he gets past Woodall, of course - his immediate focus will be on the evening’s chief support bout which will see Brad Rea defend his European 175 pound title against former world title challenger, Lyndon Arthur, in an eagerly-awaited Manchester derby.

“Well, I'm pulling up to that. How could I miss that? That’s crazy,” he told Queensberry after completing an open workout ahead of his fight with Woodall.

“I'm there. I'm doing my homework there as well. I got my eyes on all of them, man. Troy Jones fighting Liam Cameron, I can’t wait to see that fight as a fan but the one I'm really interested is Bradley Rea versus Lyndon. I’ve got my eyes on the European as well.”

Time will tell whether Taylor’s rivalry with Edmondson has developed enough heat and traction to survive a delay while the champion’s injury heals or whether both men will move in different directions and reconvene at a later date. Taylor, however, hasn’t given up on his dream of winning the British title.

“What was meant to happen this is Saturday is that I was meant to become the British and Commonwealth champion and then we’d go get the European title as well,” he said.

“That’s what was meant to happen so hopefully that can still happen.

“I'm going to be there in attendance for sure, eyes peeled.”