YORK boxer John Patrick Harker will make an immediate return to the ring early next month as he looks to avenge his professional debut defeat.

Harker will get back in the ring at the Sheffield Arena Car Park on Friday, July 2, again on a Dennis Hobson Promotions show.

The bantamweight will be aiming to bounce back from his defeat to the veteran former regional title challenger Brett Fidoe at the same venue last week.

Harker, who is trained by York boxing legend Henry Wharton from Acomb's Henry's Gym, was beaten by a points verdict over four rounds against Fidoe, who won a 39-38 points decision.

Fidoe, who fought for the English title in 2019, stepped in as a last-minute replacement after Harker's original opponent pulled out at short notice.

Despite the late call-up, Fidoe made a bright start to a quiet opening round, making up for the disadvantage in height with some sharp early jabs, but Harker responded with some near shots off the back foot.

In the second, Fidoe began to put his foot on the gas and catching Harker with some sweet counters and seemed to be coming out on top in the repeated number of close-range exchanges.

Harker did have success of his own though, it must be said, and the amateur schooling that saw him win multiple Yorkshire titles was showing, as his jab landed to great effect.

Fidoe, by some distance the shorter man, was nicely closing the distance by firing strikes to Harker's body as the fight went into the third round.

While Harker was evading many of Fidoe's swinging right hands his attacks were largely limited to the jab and his Wordsley opponent came on strongly in the stanza's final seconds.

In the last, Fidoe continued to press forward and he was landing with his over hand right hand, ultimately leading to the referee handing him the win by a point.