By Declan Taylor

LEE SELBY'S mandatory defence of his IBF featherweight title against Eric Hunter is headed for London on April 9 amid suggestions from Eddie Hearn that the Welshman has lost momentum in the UK since deciding to take his career to America.

Selby won the title in style by dethroning previously undefeated Evgeny Gradovich via technical decision after eight brutal rounds at the 02 Arena on May 30 last year.

Within 10 weeks of the victory, he signed with Al Haymon and has boxed only once since, outpointing Fernando Montiel in Arizona last October.

An all-British clash with Josh Warrington has been mooted for this summer but, before then, Selby must take care of the No.1 contender Hunter, the charismatic 126 pounder from Philadelphia, although it was unclear where the two would meet.

As reported by Boxing Scene, TGB Promotions won the purse bid with a winning bid of $302,990 and Hearn, who is still Selby's promoter, has confirmed that he expects to add the fight to his pay-per-view show headlined by Anthony Joshua's challenge for Charles Martin's IBF heavyweight title at the 02 Arena.

And the Matchroom boss says the important decisions on the rest of the card should be made over the next week, although has conceded that some of his top stars will have to be left off.

He said: “Tom Brown just won the purse bid for Selby-Hunter so it is looking likely that will feature on the card and I think that’s a good fight actually.

“We’ve got so many fighters in the mix for a place on it. We’ve got James DeGale, Lee Selby, Chris Eubank, Jamie McDonnell, Ricky Burns, George Groves, then Macklin-Rose already done. Probably of those seven there will be three or four.

“DeGale v [Rogelio] Medina, could that get on? There’s Groves - I’d like him on.

“We can’t put them all on but over the next week we’ll sort out who is boxing and who will be going later in April or early May.”

Hearn also suggested that the likes of Selby and DeGale, who have signed with Haymon, have suffered in the UK market as a result of their decision to try their hand on the opposite side of the Atlantic.

He added: “I think with these guys who have moved to America, so to speak, it’s working for some but not working for others.

“Obviously the money is good but you look at Lee Selby for example and he won the title on May 30 and it has nearly been a year and he’s boxed once. I feel like it has really slowed his progress down.

“His value over here has dropped but in America it might have increased, I don’t know. But it’s quite difficult now to get these guys on the bill on the purses that they’re reportedly getting. But they are not boxing often enough - James is the same - he’s boxed once in a year nearly.

“I’d like to see them box three or four times in a year and I would like to see Lee Selby box in Wales, in Cardiff. When we took him to Barry on the open-top bus parade and down the seafront, he was a superstar down there. But the momentum has fallen, and it’s the same with James.

“I just feel like we need to make a decision on whether we focus solely on America or we decide to remain important and active in the UK market. If you’re not, you’re going to get overtaken by other fighters who are flying: Anthony Joshua, Scott Quigg, Anthony Crolla, Chris Eubank Junior, George Groves.

“You’re never safe in boxing as a boxer in terms of being ‘the one’ because there are always other fighters in big fights who are leap-frogging you. Some fighters are moving forwards and some are moving backwards and if you continue to move backwards you might as well give up in that market.

“There is nothing wrong with those guys boxing in America I just think the distance they’ve lost in the UK market, we need to get that back and the only way we can do that is by getting it back very soon.”

For Selby, that process looks set to start in six weeks back at the arena where he won his title.