NEWBRIDGE featherweight Gavin Rees' march towards a crack at the British title has been thwarted - again.

The 22-year-old WBO Inter-Continental featherweight champion was due to take on Paul Halpin on the undercard of tonight's Grosvenor House Hotel show in London, which pays tribute to the bravery of Michael Watson.

But Rees' opponent has pulled out of the British featherweight eliminator for the second time, leaving the Welshman with a six-round workout with journeyman Earnie Smith.

Rees' trainer Enzo Calzaghe is disappointed at Halpin's apparent lack of enthusiasm at fighting the highly-rated Rees, but doesn't see it as a block on his young charge's ambitions.

"The fact that Halpin has pulled out of fighting Gavin twice speaks volumes," said Enzo last night. "Fighting him now has to be seen as irrelevant and will not stop his progress towards a shot at the British title.

"All Gavin needs is two more significant fights under his belt."

On a star-studded night for the sport another of Enzo's Newbridge gym young guns, Bradley Pryce, can gauge his chances of snatching a British crown when current light-welterweight champion Junior Witter tops the bill.

He takes on Ghana's Laatekwei Hammond for the vacant Commonwealth light-welterweight title.

And, while Pryce holds his own ambitions, he'll hope that victory will take him another step closer to taking on Manchester's WBU champion Ricky Hatton in a much-anticipated domestic showdown.

Rees and Pryce's stablemate and mentor Joe Calzaghe will be just one of the hundreds of guests from the world of boxing attending Watson's benefit dinner when more than £100,000 will be raised for the former fighter.

Calzaghe, who was still waiting today to discover who be the 11th challenger to WBO super-middleweight crown at Cardiff Castle on August 17, will sit just yards from Chris Eubank who he beat five years ago to take his crown.

It was a defeat to Eubank in 1991 that saw Watson collapse in the ring and then battle back from a blood clot which needed surgery.

Enzo said: "It's going to be a phenomenal and emotional night for Michael who has done so much for the sport."