AFTER travelling nearly 8,000 miles to to Mexico for his last fight, Newport’s Gary Buckland was hoping for home advantage in his British super-featherweight title showdown with Gary Sykes.

But, despite his manager Brian Powell having won the purse bid last week, the highly-anticipated fight on September 24 looks set to take place in Sykes’ native Yorkshire rather than south Wales.

The Argus understands that the Sky Sports bill will be confirmed for Sheffield today after extensive efforts to find a suitable venue in Newport or Cardiff proved unsuccessful.

Despite that blow, Buckland, who trains at St Josephs, is confident he can repeat his outstanding knockout win over champion Sykes in last November’s Prizefighter tournament.

He believes his Mexican adventure, which resulted in a unanimous points victory over Jose Roberto Gonzalez, has bolstered his chances of claiming the Lonsdale belt.

“Mexico was a great experience,” said the 25-year-old.

“Everything was good, the people, the place and the fight. I enjoyed it, the only thing that was hard to deal with was the heat.

“It was a great experience for when I get a big title shot and it’s great news that I’ll finally be fighting Gary Sykes. I’ve been waiting a long time for my chance.”

Dewsbury ace Sykes, who has a tickover fight against Bulgarian Valentin Stoychev in Huddersfield this Saturday, will have a double incentive in the shape of revenge for his only professional defeat and the chance of earning a Lonsdale belt to keep.

He bounced back from the shock Prizefighter defeat by defending his British crown against seasoned Leeds star Carl Johanneson in Huddersfield in March.

That was the second time he has put the belt on the line – Irishman Kevin O’Hara was outpointed last year – and a third successful defence spells a permanent prize.

But Buckland believes he has the beating of Sykes, who won his title at the expense of Manchester’s Andy Morris in March 2010.

“It would be nice to be Cardiff or Newport, but I just want to fight him and become British champion,” Buckland said earlier this month.

“Sykes is a good fighter, you can’t get away from that, so I can’t take anything for granted. But I watched the Johanneson fight and he got dropped again and I think he’ll be on the back foot.”