Tony Jeffries will face the toughest test of his short professional career when he boxes Belarusian light-heavyweight champion Artem Solomko on Friday.

'Jaffa', 24, has romped to three quick-fire wins since turning professional following his bronze medal at last year's Beijing Olympics.

And he hopes to delight his hometown fans and Sky TV viewers when he tackles Solomko at Sunderland's Seaburn Centre.

Solomko (10-17) won his national crown in May, easily outpointing Dmitry Adamovich over ten rounds.

The Minsk man has not been stopped since a four round cuts defeat to former European cruiserweight champion and two-time world title challenger Pietro Aurino in June 2005.

Promoter Frank Maloney said: "British fighters are molly coddled because they learn nothing blowing people away and this a decent test.

"Jeffries has already spread fear through Europe and this is a gamble but will pay off. It is the right fight at the right time."

Heading the Sunderland bill is a British super-bantamweight title defence by Jason Booth (33-5) who faces Hartlepool's former European champion Michael Hunter.

Booth, 31, is making the second defence of the title he won against Mark Moran in April.

Also featured is Jeffries' fellow Beijing bronze medallist David Price (1-0), and super-middlerweight sensation George Groves (5-0).