NEW world champion Matthew Barney is already mapping out his boxing future - and now even dreams of fighting the legendary Roy Jones Jnr.
The 29-year-old Southampton fighter, pictured above, rocked the boxing world on Saturday when he took the WBU world light-heavyweight title from Portsmouth's Tony Oakey despite a predictably hostile crowd in Pompey.
He now stands alongside the likes of American Jones - who is the only fighter for more than a century to hold titles from middleweight to heavyweight - as a champion at the 12 stone and-a-half stone division.
But Barney also holds the British super-middleweight championship and will eventually have to choose between continuing at that weight and giving up his newly-won title or moving up a division permanently to defend his world crown.
Portsmouth's Oakey, who suffered his first professional defeat against Barney, is desperate for a rematch, although the chances of it being held in Portsmouth again are slim following the outbreak of crowd trouble which marred the Southampton man's points victory.
As Barney left the ring a group of Oakey fans surged towards him and he was eventually forced to wait in the ring protected by security for around 25 minutes until police arrived and the Mountbatten Centre was cleared.
It is thought that brothers Frank and Eugene Maloney, who manage Oakey and Barney respectively, are negotiating a plan to stage a rematch in London.
Former Fair Oak schoolboy Barney took the fight against Oakey at just 48 hours notice and had been preparing to defend his British title against Tony Dodson in Liverpool on November 22. It is a date which he still intends to honour.
Barney said: "I'm not worried at all who I fight. Apparently I can defend my British title and then decide which belt I want to keep.
"I'm happy to fight Tony Oakey again and I would fight him in Southampton, Portsmouth, wherever they want. I'm a fighter - that's my job."
Although the WBU is one of the lesser known titles, Barney is the first boxer ever from Southampton to hold a version of a world championship and hopes the victory will propel him to even bigger and better things.
He said: "I would love to fight someone like Roy Jones, who is a legend, or Joe Calzaghe. I sparred with Calzaghe a few years ago and I believe I have the style to beat him."
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