Jorvik Warrior Jamie Warters is throwing a ring of steel around his coveted unbeaten record.

The 23-year-old York fighter plans to adopt a patient approach when he takes on experienced campaigner Warren Stowe at the Irish Centre in Leeds tonight.

Warters, who weighed in at 12st 10lbs in Leeds last night, believes he must overcome the crowd's fervour for him to force a stoppage against Lancastrian Stowe.

Said Warters: "I will go out there and take it as it comes. If I see an opening I will take it. If I stop him, I stop him. But all I am bothered about is getting a win on my record, that is all I care about.

"The crowd, when you get in there, start getting you geed up. When you land a punch they all roar but if you go in there and throw caution to the wind, that is when you make mistakes. You can't afford to make mistakes in this game."

Light-heavyweight Warters is confident he can bridge the experience gap in his first fight of six three minutes rounds.

However, he will be wary of his 33-year-old Burnley opponent, who fought current WBO super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe in 1996.

Warters said: "The kid has got a good record, 18 wins out of 21, but I am confident that I am the more natural light-heavyweight. He has fought super-middleweight and middleweight but he has got so much experience.

"He has fought 12 rounds, ten rounds and eight rounds and he has fought abroad. But I am going to get in there and give it 100 per cent.

The crowd are on my side, I am taking a lot of support and that is one thing in my favour.

"I do not want to let anyone down. I am on target. When I beat this kid I will be straight into the top ten in the country and that is the target I am aiming for. I can't stand waiting around for it to happen."

A new elimination-style boxing competition is launched at the Irish Centre tonight, with the aim of giving lower-ranked fighters the chance to be fast-tracked into title contention.

The British Masters Championships, organised by the Professional Boxing Promoters Association, will involve knock-out competitions in all weight categories.

Two of the fights on the Warters bill are in the preliminary stages of the Masters, featuring Warters' stable-mates Andy Green and Steve Tuckett.

Tuckett takes on Martin Holgate at light-welterweight, while Green meets Nottingham's Vic Broomhead at lightweight.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.