COLIN KENNA is back in the ring tonight - just 13 days after his victorious comeback.

The Lordshill heavyweight will appear in front of his adoring Dublin fans, in the city of his birth.

Kenna, left, sold £3,500 of tickets in just four hours for his big clash with Sheffield giant Paul King.

Another victory would help further raise Kenna's profile in Ireland and could propel him up the rankings and towards a possible shot at the All-Ireland title.

The 28-year-old is hugely popular in both Southampton and Dublin.

Earlier this month, he topped a sell-out show at Southampton's Guildhall with a solid stoppage of 'Big Red' O'Neil Murray.

But he is also well known in Ireland, having previously featured as a kick-boxer at Dublin's National Stadium - the venue tonight.

The Kenna family are famous in both cities, with brother Jeff having played football for both Saints and the Republic of Ireland, while dad Liam is a former Irish amateur snooker champion.

Kenna's manager and trainer, Jack Bishop, is delighted that his man is in action again so quickly after his last fight.

Bishop said: "He was out for around nine months before the Guildhall show with an elbow injury and I want him to stay as active as possible to get him up the ratings.

"He went straight back training in the gym. It is good to keep him in the gym and we want to give him a test to give the arm a good going over.

"Paul King is tough though. It will take a lot to upset him, although Colin is certainly on a real roll at the moment. His gym work is an A+.

"He was eager to take this fight and raise his profile because there are a lot of up-and-coming Irish heavyweights."

King will certainly represent a decent test for Kenna.

A sizeable heavyweight, he has five wins from ten contests and was also in action on the recent Southampton Guildhall show, recording a points win over Portsmouth's Billy Bessey.

In that contest, the 30-year-old used his height and reach to good effect to stop Bessey finding his rhythm.

Kenna was an interested spectator that night and predicted he would be able to exploit King's habit of keeping his hands low.

It will not be easy, but if Kenna can find his range and get inside King's guard then he certainly has the skills to record his 13th victory from 16 professional fights.

Former world WBU light-heavyweight champion Matthew Barney, above, has meanwhile been given another date for his long-awaited European title clash with Thomas Ulrich. The German has pulled out three times, blaming illness each time.

But the weekend of March 25-26 is the new scheduled date for the fight and Barney is now confident he will finally get his chance.

"It has been frustrating, but I've got a feeling it will finally happen this time," he said.