Irish title hopeful Watkins off Derry show

LUKE Watkins has been forced to pull out of the The Time is Now fight night in Derry on Saturday.

Irish fight fans were keen to meet see ‘The Duke’ an Irish title hopeful in action, but the 25 year old cruiserweight was forced to withdraw from the Eamonn O’Kane topped card.

Watkin has been enjoying with his stable mates all week and told Irish-boxing.com that he was excited about making his Irish debut, but after checking up on a stomach problems found out he has perforated eardrum and might also miss a June 6 Swindon show.

“When we got over here, Duke had a bit stomach ache, so we left it, but as the time went on, we took him to a doctor on Tuesday evening and it turns out it was not a stomach ache,” Fitzpatrick told the Swindon Advertiser.

“It was an ear infection and he has a perforated ear drum, so he cannot fight on Saturday.

“We have also had to pull the show we were planning in Swindon on June 6.

“The doctor said the best case scenario is that it will take two weeks to clear up, but he also said the worst case is 10-12 weeks.