Lee Selby is still on course to fight Carl Frampton this summer, according to his manager Jamie Sanigar.
Wales’ IBF featherweight world champion has agreed to fight next month in a ten-round non-title fight against Spaniard Andoni Gago.
The bout will be on the undercard of David Haye’s clash with Tony Bellew on March 4 at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday March 4th.
Selby – who has not fought for 11 months – was due to defend his title again Argentine Jonathan Barros on January 28 in Las Vegas, but the fight was called off after Barros failed a medical.
A victory would have paved the way for Selby to fight Irishman Frampton in a money-spinning fight in June, even though Frampton was beaten by Leo Santa Cruz in Las Vegas.
But by taking a fight in two weeks’ time, Selby has put himself on the right “timeline” to fight either Frampton or one of the other major featherweight figures, claims Sanigar.
“Lee Selby wants to be in the biggest fights possible, as soon as possible,” Sanigar told Boxing News.
“Frampton, Santa Cruz, [Gary] Russell Jr, [Abner] Mares, that’s the four, we want to be boxing one of those four in the summer.
“By boxing on March 4, it puts him on the same timeline as those, and that’s critical for us. We didn’t want to be going into a big fight like that if Selby had been out for 12 months or so.
“It was important for us to get Lee back in the ring, first and foremost. He’d been out the ring a while and he’d had a long camp.
“Obviously after the disappointment of Las Vegas it was imperative we got him out quickly. It’s a good opportunity. David Haye reached out and with the links between Richard Schaefer and Al Haymon, we were able to get this opportunity for Lee. He’s back at the O2, a good hunting ground for him, as he won the world title there.
“He’s a world champion so, ideally, he wants to be defending his world title but it’s just not possible at the moment with the IBF. We’re just waiting for a decision from them. They gave us permission to box as long as it’s over the featherweight limit.”