Colin Kenna has bagged a place on one of the biggest British boxing shows for years.

The Southampton heavyweight has just found out that he will fight on the prestigious David Haye v Audley Harrison bill which takes place at Manchester’s MEN Arena a week on Saturday.

The opportunity has come completely out of the blue but is ultimately a change of date and venue for what was due to be Kenna’s next fight.

But instead of travelling to Finland to face heavyweight prospect Edmund Gerber over eight rounds he will instead be performing on one the biggest stages that British boxing has seen in recent years in front of an expected crowd of 23,000 – as many as his beloved Saints often play in front of.

Kenna’s trainer and promoter Jack Bishop, who managed to land the date for his man, said: “I think Colin will be thanking me for this one – he certainly should because it is very exciting.

“What a show it is to be on.

“He will prepare for the fight as if it were anywhere but it really is a great bill to be on.”

The world title fight between British heavyweights Haye and Harrison has attracted massive media attention and the whole bill, including Kenna’s fight, is being shown live on Sky Box Office.

Kenna comes into the bout on the back of his best result for a while after he earned a creditable draw with Damien Campbell over four rounds in London last month.

Gerber could be a difficult proposition though – the 22-year-old is ranked as the number one heavyweight in Germany having won all 12 of his professional fights so far.

He has scored knockout victories in eight of those and will be eager to impress in front of some very influential figures from the boxing world.