In form Selby can shine in Belfast

Selby reigns the Commonwealth and in Britain

One of the biggest tests in Boxing is when you have to go into an opponent's backyard and face a partisan welcome from his adoring fans, and that's something talented Welshman Lee Selby (13-1, 5 KO's) will have to face this coming weekend on the big Sky Sports bill at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

Selby is a fighter many people won't have heard too much about a year or so ago, but on the 17th of September 2011, he produced a fantastic performance by winning in Liverpool against Stephen Smith, stopping "Swifty" in the 8th round of a great scrap. That won him the British and Commonwealth featherweight titles, and following that he produced arguably the most impressive display of his career so far, stopping the incredibly tough Scot John Simpson, in five rounds, where Selby showed his impressive array of shots, including heavy ones to Simpson's body.

In May he had a Commonwealth title defence against unknown Ghanaian Patrick Okine, and did what he had to do by stopping him in five rounds, but the acid test comes this Saturday night. The experience of fighting in Liverpool against Smith will stand Selby in good stead, but going to Belfast will be on another level. The Odyssey is a big arena, the fans will be packed in there because of so much home interest, and Selby will have very few fans, this is a fantastic test for one of the most talented boxers in Britain at the moment.

Selby's manager and corner man Chris Sanigar has said this should be his last fight at domestic level, if he comes through this fight with Lindsay, then the best in Britain will have been beaten, and you can't deny that the 25 year old from Barry has looked unbelievably impressive in his title fights. 

Lindsay will have the home support

This has the makings of an awesome bout though, Lindsay is 19-1 with 7 KO's, but hits much harder than his record suggests and his only loss was against John Simpson, who to his credit came to Belfast and put on a real Boxing masterclass. I think we'll see a different, hungrier, Lindsay this weekend though. He's waited patiently for another title chance, Eddie Hearn won the purse bids and got him this opportunity on home soil, which provides a little off-point, credit has to go to the board for putting this fight out to purse bids and things have been done the right way, we need more of these bouts at British, Commonwealth and European level, promoters have had their chances to make fights, but many have fallen by the way side!

Credit to the aforementioned Hearn for putting on another very good show, he's certainly keeping the bar high, but his charge could be in for a defeat here. I'm delighted Selby is Welsh, he along with Nathan Cleverly could be real standard bearers for Boxing in the principality for the next two or three years, both have huge amounts of potential and can flourish with the right matches. Selby has been sparring at the Mayweather Gym in recent months and that kind of experience will no doubt improve him as a fighter. His power has developed so much in the last 12 months, at the start of his career he did struggle to make a mark in the game and no big promoter really got involved, but now with Frank Warren's backing, things are definitely happening for Lee.

Miskirtchian lies in wait for Selby

Selby has a very fluid Boxing style, from a technical standpoint he's a pleasure to watch, but he's also the type of fighter who's perfect for Hearn's show on Saturday night, he comes to fight and now with that improved power I've talked about, he delivers big knockouts. I fancy him in this fight, Lindsay's tough, but I'll be having a few quid on another knockout win. That should set up a European title fight against champion Belgian based Georgian Alex Miskirtchian, which I'm confident would take place in Britain, but also ending up in a Selby win, considering the champion has lost to Paul Truscott in the past. The featherweight division is packed with exciting fighters and Wales has it's own pocket rocket.