LOCAL fight fan Brian Probert has his fingers crossed Chris Higgs will win the British featherweight title – a bet he took out in October 2008 when the young Lydney boxing star had only just set out on his professional career.

Brian's bet was taken out with a local bookmaker who gave him odds of 100/1.

To cap his ante-post bet off, Brian has backed Higgs to win a version of the world title at odds of 500/1.

Both bets were made after Higgs decided to box professionally. Since then he has won 11 successive fights, culminating in a hard-fought victory over Joel Ryan, of Walsall, in an epic battle for the vacant light welterweight British Masters title.

Brian said: "Chris has done really well. I took on the bet to give him support. Everyone locally follows his progress with interest and wishes him well and, of course, it's great to have a local fighter doing so well in such a tough sport."