THE man masterminding the long-awaited return to the ring of the Jorvik Warrior Jamie Warters is hoping a big York contingent will follow the home grown star across to Hull on Thursday, November 21.

Warters, who is back in action after two years in the boxing wilderness, is scheduled to top the bill at the City Hall, Hull, for his mouth-watering clash against veteran cruiserweight Tony Booth.

And manager-trainer Steve Pollard, who worked with former featherweight champion Paul Ingle, is hoping the fans who watched Warters' early career will come out to see him take his first steps towards the British title.

"This will be Jamie's first fight in about two years," explained Pollard. "He has been with me for nine months and I have adapted his style. He is now more exciting and has what it takes to take the British title.

"Jamie got disillusioned with boxing before, but Paul Ingle recommended he come to me. He came along and we have been working together to get him back.

"Jamie can be the British champion in the next 12 months and that would be a great honour for York. Most of the top fighters are in their 30s whereas Jamie is still fresh. He can beat any of the top contenders and I think he is too good for Bruce Scott.

"It would be good to get a strong following across to York to support him at Hull, especially as he is top of the bill."

Tickets and further details for the fight can be obtained from Jamie on (01904) 708709.

Meanwhile, the club that acted as a springboard to Warters' career started their season with a successful evening at the Scunthorpe Dinner event this week.

Out of the five juniors entered to box across in Lincolnshire, the All Saints ABC had four winners.

Danny Deighton, 15, suffered the only defeat of the night, but, in his first ever bout, he gave a spirited display against T Marlon (White Rose Club) before being edged out on points.

Another two boxers making their debut for the club were 12-year-old Danny Holmes and 15-year-old Ben Fairburn. Holmes produced a fight full of style and energy to defeat C Grant (Bridlington), while Fairburn had to dig deep and maintain his composure to narrowly outscore N Ainley (White Rose).

Andy Smith, 12, had a convincing points victory over C Wild (Cleckheaton) after his best display to date, while his brother Daniel, 15, produced his usual exciting display to stop hard-hitting D Wardman (White Rose) with a two-handed barrage of heavy blows in the first round, but only after taking an early count.

Updated: 12:46 Friday, November 01, 2002