Commonwealth champion Philip Bowes has criticised opponent Akeem Ennis Brown ahead of bidding to add the British crown to his collection.

‘Quicksilver’ Bowes (20-3, 3 KOs) faces ‘Riiddy’ (13-0, 1 KO) for the belts on the massive Golden Contract bill at York Hall on March 20; live on Sky Sports in the UK in association with Matchroom Boxing and on ESPN+ in the US in association with Top Rank.

With both men touted as possible future opponents for the winner of the super-lightweight #GoldenContract final between Ohara Davies and Tyrone McKenna, Brown previously hinted he would be prepared to face Davies and temporarily put their friendship aside.

Brown said: “Would I fight Ohara? We speak about it sometimes. We’re here to feed our family and we’ve sparred hundreds of rounds.

“Do the fans want to see us put our friendship aside? Money talks! We’d be friends again straight afterwards so it would just depend if the numbers are right.”

Bowes, who is also friends with Hackney’s ‘Two Tanks’, offered a different take.

Bowes said: “If Ohara wins the tournament – and I’m sure that’s what’s going to happen – I wouldn’t fight him because we are friends. It just wouldn’t happen.

“Brown saying he would fight Ohara just goes to show he has a price. My friends are priceless to me – I never put money over friends and family.

“I found Brown rude and ignorant at first to be honest but maybe that was just to sell the show. I’m sure he is a cool guy really…

“I don’t believe I need to trash talk to sell fights. If you’re a classy fighter just be classy. Class is permanent.”

Alongside the long-awaited collision between Bowes and Brown, #GoldenContract light-heavyweight hopefuls Hosea Burton, Liam Conroy, Ricards Bolotniks and Serge Michel battle it out for the place in the final.

Also on the main card, Dan Azeez and Andre Sterling collide for the English crown while on the undercard, Siar Ozgul and Logan Yoon clash in a potential small-hall classic and the likes of Jordan Flynn, George Mitchell, Mohammed Sameer jostle for limelight.