Junior Witter is heading to America for Easter for his next world title defence.

Bradford's WBC light-welterweight champion will take on unbeaten Demetrius Hopkins on Saturday, March 22.

The fight is expected to take place on the west coast, possibly in Los Angeles, where Witter impressively saw off Lovemore N'Dou on his debut Stateside three years ago.

Hopkins is the nephew of middleweight great Bernard and is currently number four in the WBC rankings. He has won 28 fights, 11 inside the distance, with one draw.

At nearly six foot, he is four inches taller than Witter - but then so was former WBA champion Vivian Harris who was destroyed by The Hitter in September at Doncaster.

The American show will also feature exciting Cuban Joel Casamayor defending his WBC lightweight belt against Australian Michael Katsidis.

Witter's fight will be shown live on the influential HBO network and a strong performance would hugely boost his profile with the lucrative American market. It would also further increase the clamour for a long-awaited duel with Ricky Hatton.

  • Full story in tomorrow's Telegraph & Argus.