ANTWUN Echols, an old foe I was due to meet for the title a few years back before he pulled out, is the latest being linked to meet me in my next title fight.

That fight will still be in Manchester on February 11 as far as I am concerned and rumours that Frank Warren wants the defence to be put back to March or April are just that.

I haven't spoken to Frank since well before Christmas, but I expect to do so in the next week or so when hopefully I'll know who my next opponent will be.

If it turns out that Echols and not Scott Pemberton or Mario Veit presents me with my record 16th WBO world super-middleweight defence then that will suit me fine because I know I will beat him.

Having said that, Echols is a very good fighter with a record of 31 wins (27 on KO), five defeats and a draw who has been in with some of the best, and he would be no easy opponent.

Although he has been put down several times in fights, he has often got up off the canvas to win and there is no doubt he can punch.

In fact, he has got a bit of a reputation as a rough-house fighter, not in the way my previous opponent Kabary Salem had, for dangerous use of his head, but as a fighter who loves to mix it, the sort the fans love.

In his last fight against Jameel Wilson last month he produced a seventh-round stoppage win after being put down in round six.

He was also knocked down by Salem when they met in April 2002 before producing a unanimous points win.

But perhaps the best example of both his weakness against a puncher and also his guts and his own punching ability came when he met Charles Brewer in May 2001.

I met Brewer almost exactly a year later and had to go all the way to win.

Echols was knocked down three times in the second round of that fight and was virtually out on his feet yet somehow came back to stop Brewer in the very next round.

He also had two fights for the IBF middleweight crown with the great Bernard Hopkins, a fighter I wanted to but never got to meet.

He was well beaten on points in the first in 1999 and was stopped in the tenth of the 12 rounds the following year, showing he has ability.

But he was well beaten on points by Anthony Mundine for the then vacant WBA super middleweight title in September 2003 and at 33 is maybe not the fighter he was.

He may view a fight with me as a last chance to win a crown but I can assure him he has no chance, though it could be exciting while it lasts.

I'm after bigger fish and whoever I fight will merely be a stepping stone on the way to bigger contests in 2005.

It seems to be the season of boxing innovation and I'm usually all in favour of anything that puts bums on seats, but I'm not sure about the latest event set for Las Vegas later this month.

My bill at Manchester will be the first pro-am bill and I hope it will prove a big success.

But the one in America on January 29 will be the first professional bill to feature all female fighters.

Now I've got nothing against female boxers. In fact some of them are technically better than many male professionals, Britain's own Jane Couch and Muhammad Ali's daughter Leila among them.

But you do wonder if a predominantly male audience will want to watch a bill of female boxers trying to belt the hell out of each other. I can't say I find the prospect entertaining, but the demand must be there or the promoters wouldn't be putting on such a show.

I see that Scott Harrison is hoping to fight Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera for the WBC super-featherweight crown if, as he should, he successfully defends his WBO featherweight crown against Colombian Victor Polo on January 28.

Scott is a good, strong all-round box-fighter and he deserves the opportunity to fight someone like Berrerra, one of the best pond-for-pound fighters in the world, but whether he has the ability to match him is another thing.

Harrison's a good, upright boxer and it could be a risk worth taking.