Manchester, England’s Bradley Rea will step in for countryman Shakan Pitters and challenge European light heavyweight champion Daniel Dos Santos over 12 rounds at London’s York Hall on Friday.

Pitters suffered an injury that may require surgery so again postponing his shot at Dos Santos was not an option. That has opened the window of opportunity for Rea, 20-1 (10 KOs), to step into the headline bout on the GBM card which will be broadcast live on DAZN.

The 27-year-old Rea has seen opportunities of his own fall through in recent months so he didn’t think twice when this chance at European glory arose.

“I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this,” Rea stated in a release. “Nobody wants to fight me, I’m too much of a risk, so I always keep myself fit and ready because I knew an opportunity like this would come. This is a very winnable fight for me and what most excites me about winning the European title is that people then have to fight me, they can’t avoid me like they have been doing.”

Rea will be known to British boxing fans for a spree of stirring performances that were witnessed on Sky Sports a few years ago. But that run came to an end when he was outpointed over 10 rounds by Tyler Denny in a bid for the English middleweight title.

He has since moved up to light heavyweight and made the most of his 6ft 4ins frame by winning six in a row, five of which came inside schedule.

GBM CEO Izzy Asif said: “I tell guys all the time - stay ready. You don’t know when a big opportunity will suddenly land on you out of the blue. This is one of those moments and Bradley Rea was ready to answer the call. He’s fighting fit, he’s ready to go, he’s got a great pedigree and he’s got heavy hands.

The entire card is now as follows:

EBU Light-Heavyweight Championship - 12 x 3

Daniel Dos Santos vs. Bradley Rea

IBF European Super-Lightweight Championship - 10 x 3

Tiernan Bradley vs. Ben Crocker

British & Commonwealth Super-Flyweight Championship - 10 x 2

Emma Dolan vs. Lauren Parker

Welterweight Contest - 8 x 3

Kieran Molloy vs. Ricardo Crepaldi

Heavyweight Contest 6 x 3

Hughie Fury vs. Dan Garber

Light-Heavyweight Contest 6 x 3

Gradus Kraus V Tony Amouaku

Super Lightweight Contest 6 x 2

Lilie Winch V Valgerdur Goodsteinsdottir