JOEL Brunker has found a fight.
Brunker flew to England last week and will be there for two weeks to prepare himself for a fight against 24-year-old Englishman Josh Warrington.
Brunker’s inability to find a fight has become somewhat of an urban legend in the Hawkesbury.
There is no doubting the featherweight’s fighting ability, but his career has been beset by roadblock after roadblock since losing a fight to Lee Selby in late 2014.
‘‘It will be a big night. It will be my biggest fight yet and in hostile territory,’’ he said.
‘‘There is no-one here in Australia to fight. I’ve gone as high as I can, so I have to look for guys to fight internationally.’’
Brunker is scheduled to fight Warrington on September 5 in Leeds. In Brunker’s own words, he has had to ‘bend over’ and go to England for a fight, because no-one in Australia will fight him.
‘‘Being in England; they have big fighters over there. We have to bend over to them and give them whatever they want,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve never fought him [Warrington]. I don’t know too much about him. He is undefeated, he is similar sort of fighter to me and has a huge fan base.
‘‘The stadium where the fight will be has already sold out.’’
Brunker had won all of his 27 fights before he met Lee Selby in October, 2014.
Before then he had not set foot in the ring for 14 months, and the loss has been eating away at him ever since.
About 12,000 people will be on hand to witness Brunker unleash the rage that has built up inside him over the past months.
‘‘What makes it much easier for me, this guy [Warrington] will suit me, he is the same height and size and will come to me and it will make it a bit easier for me,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m an aggressive boxer .... puncher. I come forward and in. And he is similar. He is fast with a really good jab and he likes to fight.
‘‘I make it a hard fight for people, so they look at it like they have more to lose.’’
Brunker said his talent in the ring made it hard to find people who were willing to fight him.
He said he had contemplated walking away from boxing, because he could not find people to fight him.
He said he was under no illusions how important this bout was for his career.
‘‘It is definitely much better and saves sitting around thinking what do I do next and thinking do I give it away and go back to work,’’ he said.
‘‘We’re arriving exactly two weeks before. I normally do a month to six weeks but the timing has stuffed up my routine so I’m going to try something different this time,’’ he said.
‘‘So I’ll spend a bit of time training, spend some time in London, get the win and come home.
