Deepdale fight night off: Scott Fitzgerald will not fight Anthony Fowler at Preston's iconic stadium in May

The mouthwatering prospect of Scott Fitzgerald fighting arch rival Anthony Fowler at Deepdale is dead in the water.

The pair were primed for an intriguing rematch at Preston North End’s iconic home venue at the end of May.

Unfortunately, it appears certain that Deepdale will not stage the bout, but the domestic rivals are still set to meet later in the summer at a venue yet to be confirmed.

In the meantime, Fitzgerald is set to fight on the undercard of Dillian Whyte’s heavyweight showdown with Alexander Povetkin on May 2 in Manchester.

As of yet is opponent is unconfirmed but the former Commonwealth Games champion is expected to fight up in weight.

Fowler was due to fight Bolton’s Jack Flatley this weekend, also in Manchester, but Flatley has pulled out of the contest and the Liverpudlian is hopeful that a new opponent will be found.

It is almost a year to the day when Fitzgerald defeated his former GB team-mate Fowler, in his own backyard, on points at the Liverpool Arena in what has since been described as one of the fights of 2019.

The 28-year-old famously put Fowler on the canvas in the final round to tip the contest his way.

The Preston star then went on to claim the super-welterweight British title, dethroning Ted Cheeseman, also on points, in Newcastle in October.

The first defence of his Lonsdale belt was expected to be against Fowler, but this time on Fitzgerald’s home turf.

Talks between North End officials and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn late last year about staging the fight at North End were said to be productive. However, a long-standing hand injury which Fitzgerald has had to recover from, coupled with the logistics in terms of the end of the current football season and the start of the new one, means plans to use

Deepdale as a venue have had to be shelved.

However, Fitzgerald is still hopeful that in the future he will be able to fight at PNE –with next year a possibility.

His father Dave – who also trains him – said it was a shame that Deepdale would not stage the fight.

“I think it was just the timings were not right,” he said. “Scott’s had this injury and there is only a small window when Preston could stage the fight.

“Scott was due to fight this weekend in Manchester and if he had of done then the fight against Fowler at Deepdale would have been on.

“But Scott has to be right. He will have been the man that everybody will be coming to watch at Deepdale being the home favourite so it would have been too big a risk.

“Eddie Hearn would hav e been putting too much money into it, but we are looking at 2021 to have a fight there.”