Essex puncher Lee Purdy makes the second defense of his British welterweight title when he takes on Colin Lynes at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Wednesday night. 24-year-old Purdy shocked UK boxing when he battered heavily fancied Craig Watson to a fifth round TKO to win the British title in April. Just to prove it wasn't a fluke, Purdy turned the trick a second time, stopping Watson in the fifth round again three months later. 

In Colin Lynes, Purdy meets a vastly experienced opponent who is himself a former British and European light welterweight champion, and has mixed it up with the likes of Young Mutley, Gavin Rees, Junior Witter, Lenny Daws, Gianluca Branco, Paul McCloskey and Ajose Olusegun to name but a few in his 13 year career.

Purdy v Lynes will be shown live on Sky Sports 1 on Wednesday night, the action starts at 9:30 PM.

24-year-old Purdy (16-2-1, 9 KOs) from Colchester in Essex, turned professional in 2006, and was unbeaten in his first 10 contests (9 wins, one draw, five knockouts.) Included in that streak was an impressive first round knockout of Jamie Spence on the Jon Thaxton v Yuri Ramanau European title fight undercard. Purdy's win was screened on Sky TV, and fight fans got to take a look at an exciting all action fighter who's compact 5'7" frame and bustling, aggressive, hard punching style looked more 'Made in Mexico' than Essex.

Purdy's progress was temporarily derailed when he was outpointed by solid journeyman Peter McDonagh over 10 rounds in December 2008. He was soon back in his stride however and after two easy victories, faced McDonagh again and this time took the decision. 

Purdy took a significant step up in class on March 2010 when he faced the undefeated Denton Vassell for the vacant Commonwealth welterweight title. Although both men possessed similar records and professional experience, Vassell had the extra pedigree of a 2006 ABA championship behind him. It was a tough 12 round fight, but Vassell emerged with a close but unanimous decision.

Purdy was given little chance of defeating the powerful Craig Watson when the two met at the MEN Arena in Manchester in April of this year for Watson's British welterweight title. The champion was fighting in his home city, and was on an impressive seven fight winning streak that had seen him win both the British welterweight and Commonwealth light middleweight titles, and avenge a previous loss to top Irish prospect John O'Donnell.

On the night Purdy was a revelation. Showing scant respect for opponent or location, he took the fight right to Watson and traded punches with the tough southpaw.  The champion was slightly ahead when Purdy caught him with a tremendous straight right in the fifth round. Although Watson beat the count, the referee waved the fight off. It was a shocking upset, and fight fans up and down the UK were stunned at Purdy's progress and power.

It was a mark of his growing confidence as a fighter that Purdy was prepared to venture into Watson's backyard of Oldham for the rematch three months later. Although Watson began the fight purposefully, Purdy was soon in control, and by the fifth round was hammering Watson to both the head and body. After he was floored for the second time, the referee came to Watson's aid and stopped the fight.

The two wins over Watson went a long way in establishing Purdy as a force to be reckoned with in the UK, but he still has some catching up to do in Europe. He is currently only ranked 13th in the latest E.B.U (European Boxing Union) rankings, but an impressive victory over 11th ranked Colin Lynes should move Purdy into the top 10, and set him up for a possible European title fight sometime in 2012. 

With the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr as its figureheads, the welterweight division is arguably the most competitive in boxing right now. Even in Europe the standard is exceptional, with quality fighters like Kell Brook and Matthew Hatton rubbing shoulders with former IBF world welterweight champion Jan Zaveck at the top of the current E.B.U rankings. Whether Purdy can make an impact on the 147 lb class internationally remains to be seen. 

Can 33-year-old Colin Lynes (35-9, 12 KOs) turn back the clock and find the performance he will need to defeat an opponent as confident and dangerous as Lee Purdy on Wednesday night? 

In his pomp, between 2003 and 2008, Colin Lynes was a slick boxing, world class light welterweight. In 2004 he was good enough to beat solid Argentinian Pablo Daniel Sarmiento for the IBO world 140 lb title. (Sarmiento's brother Gabriel is the trainer famed for turning Sergio Martinez into the boxing superstar he is today.) 

In 2005 Lynes gave an excellent account of himself against future WBC light welterweight champion Junior Witter in a bout for the British, European and Commonwealth light welterweight titles. Although Lynes lost a close decision, he put up an excellent performance against Witter, who would soon prove to be arguably the best 140 pound fighter in the world.

In his first fight of 2006, Lynes was stopped by an up-and-coming Lenny Daws in the ninth round. It was a tough setback for the 28-year-old Londoner, and it took almost a full year for Lynes to get his hunger back for the ring. He bounced back emphatically however, winning a unanimous decision over Barry Morrison to claim the British light welterweight title, and then scored an eighth round TKO over Young Mutley to add the vacant European crown to his collection.

Lynes began 2008 with a successful defense of his E.B.U title, outpointing Juho Tolppola of Finland. However, Lynes fortunes in the ring were about to take a serious turn for the worst. He lost his European title four months later on a split decision to Italian  veteran Gianluca Branco in Torino, Italy. His British title was to follow seven months later when he was forced to retire after nine rounds against up-and-coming Irishman Paul McCloskey. His bad luck continued into 2009 when he dropped a split decision to Frenchman Souleymane M'baye for the vacant European light welterweight title.

Lynes attempted to get his career back on track by entering the light welterweight edition of Prizefighter in December 2009. He performed well, scoring back to back three round split decisions over David Barnes and Young Mutley, but was well beaten by former WBA light welterweight champion Gavin Rees in the final.

On the strength of his performance in Prizefighter, Lynes landed a Commonwealth title fight against the dangerous London-based Nigerian Ajose Olusegun, but was knocked out in eight rounds.

Many fighters would have called it a day after such a crushing setback, but Lynes decided to move up to welterweight, and bounced back with a points win over former Commonwealth light middleweight champion Bradley Price in February of this year. He competed in his second Prizefighter competition in June, this time at welterweight, and was beaten in the semifinal by eventual champion Yassine El Maachi. 

Now comes an unlikely crack at a red hot Lee Purdy for the  British welterweight title. On paper, it would appear that Lynes stands little chance against a man in the kind of form shown by the  defending champion in 2011. 

Six defeats in his last 10 bouts do not augur well for Lynes. However, Purdy is prone to lapses in concentration, as was seen in his close call against raw novice Mark Douglas in November 2009. In that bout Purdy began the fight strongly, connecting with some big shots against Douglas in the first round. However instead of clinically taking his opponent apart, Purdy chose to showboat - attempting bad impersonations of Floyd Mayweather Jr and Sugar Ray Leonard.

Douglas came right back into the bout, landing big right hands in the second and third rounds, and in the fourth was scoring heavily and looked a likely winner until he suffered a dislocated right shoulder and was forced to quit. Purdy had survived a close call against an opponent he should have dispatched early.

If Lynes is 100% prepared, and Purdy had his mind on possible future big money matchups against the likes of Matthew Hatton and Kell Brook, the Hornchurch man could pull off a major upset.

However, the most likely outcome is that Purdy will simply be too young, too strong, too aggressive and too confidence for Lynes at this stage of his career, and will hammer him to defeat inside of eight rounds.

Purdy by TKO in eight. 

Big Fight Odds: Lee Purdy 4/9, Colin Lynes 7/4 skyBET