Darlington boxer Issac 'Argie' Ward says he has the current British bantamweight champion Martin Power running scared after he pulled out of Friday's title contest last night.

Ward was due to fight the undisputed title holder at York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, only for Power to cry off with a shoulder injury.

Ward, 28, who fights out of Neil Fannon's gym in Hartlepool, was bidding to become the first Darlington boxer to take a British crown.

Now he faces a frustrating six-week wait before he gets the chance to have a crack at the British Championship.

The fight promised to be a cracker with both bantamweight fighters in devastating form.

Ward is unbeaten in 14 professional bouts, winning 12 - one by a knockout - and drawing the other two, whereas St Pancras-based Power has enjoyed 18 triumphs in as many fights, seven of them knockouts.

Despite the 26-year-old's record looking formidable on paper, Ward - currently ranked 77 in the world - believes his opponent has 'bottled it'.

"Its a joke! I can't believe he's got an injury a week before the fight," said a furious Ward on hearing nine weeks of preparation has been wasted.

"You normally wind down in the build-up to a fight, you don't normally train, so how come he has an injury?

"He's let his mouth go for a long time and now when it comes down to the crunch he's bottled it and I think he's a coward.

"I'm devastated. I've trained hard since Christmas and I've never been across the doors. I've dedicated my life to training for this fight and this happens.

"All I can do now is keep myself right and train hard and wait until it comes off again. I think he's pulled out because he knows he's going to get beaten. I think he has under-estimated me and knows he is in for a hard fight."

A spokesman for Power, who boxes from the Fight Factory, New Cross Road, London, and is managed by promoter Frank Maloney, said: "He injured his shoulder in training last week and it has not responded to treatment the way we would have liked.

"We were left with no alternative but to postpone the fight. We're sorry for the inconvenience to everyone concerned and hope to reschedule the fight for late April or early May."

* Joe Calzaghe is set to kick off a spectacular weekend of sport by featuring in another career-defining super-fight on the eve of the World Cup final.

Promoter Frank Warren is working towards making Calzaghe's next fight for Saturday, July 8, and intends for one of his superstar rivals to be in the opposite corner.

Calzaghe's stock has rocketed following his sensational points win over Jeff Lacy in Manchester on Sunday morning and he is in position to take his pick from a number of lucrative options.

Warren said: ''We are looking at July next for Joe and I believe the ideal opponent would be Roy Jones, who is the biggest name out there and I am sure Joe would do a job on him.

''But Joe will take a break, then we will sit down and decide where he goes from here. We will talk to the television companies because Joe's reputation has risen significantly after his win.''

Calzaghe's biggest decision is whether to remain at the 12-stone super-middleweight limit and attempt to unify the remaining two portions of the title or move up to the more lucrative light-heavyweight division.

Neither of the other two super-middle champions, Mikkel Kessler or Markus Beyer, mean much to the American market, while the likes of Jones and light-heavy champion Antonio Tarver are big box-office.

Having initially insisted Lacy would be his last fight at the lower weight, Calzaghe has admitted having second thoughts, having finally succeeded in unifying the titles that had eluded him for so long.