Junior Witter's dream of staging a world title fight in Bradford has been shattered.

The Hitter' hoped the first mandatory defence of his WBC light-welterweight belt could take place in his home city.

St George's Hall, a venue last used for professional boxing in 1993, was sounded out for the high-profile clash with New York-based Vivian Harris on September 7.

Sky and promoters Hennessy Sports visited the Hall Ings venue last week to check out its suitability - and were reluctantly forced to pull the plug.

The T&A understands that television chiefs turned it down because there was no appropriate room to park their satellite vehicles and the hall was not big enough for the camera angles they need.

"Junior is very disappointed about it," admitted manager John Ingle.

"It would have been fantastic for him to fight in Bradford and the first time the city had ever put on a fight for a world title.

"We've always wanted to put one on in Bradford and it's such a shame that there is nowhere suitable.

"We've tried hard to find somewhere but St George's Hall wasn't big enough and the Abundant Life Centre weren't interested."

St George's twice played host to domestic title clashes. In April 1986, a packed house saw local boy John Doherty lose his British super-featherweight belt to Pat Cowdell.

And in February 1993, Frank Grant followed up his sensational win against Herol Graham by defending the middleweight crown against John Ashton.

It is still likely that Witter will be able to defend in Yorkshire, although his Bradford-based fans will probably have to travel to the Doncaster Dome.

The Friday night show is being lined up to launch Sky's coverage of the new boxing season.

Witter stopped Mexican Arturo Mauri in nine rounds in a voluntary defence in January but the showdown with Harris will be the first major test of the title he won against DeMarcus Corley ten months ago.

Harris, who was born in Guyana but fights out of the Big Apple, held the WBA version of the world crown for two years.

He was surprisingly dethroned by Carlos Maussa in 2005 but has bounced back with three wins since and is confident of claiming an upset victory.

The match-up had been mooted for Nottingham, or even Norwich, but Witter is desperate to make the most of home advantage with a Yorkshire venue. Sadly it seems that will not be in Bradford.

Ingle said: "Junior is in great shape at the moment and has just come back from Gran Canaria, where's he's been training hard.

"But the easiest part is the training and getting the fight. The hardest is always finding a venue."

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