Nikki Bascome, the Bermuda boxer, will have to wait a little longer for his next professional bout.

Allan “Forty” Rego, the junior middleweight’s trainer, confirmed yesterday that a scheduled bout in Orlando, Florida, this month has fallen through.

“The fight has been put off because the venue [Amway Centre] has been taken over by another group of people, so we will not be fighting again until June,” Rego said. “We had scheduled a fight on March 22 in Orlando, but I did not know the opponent.”

Rego believes the cancellation could be a blessing in disguise because it affords Bascome more time to iron out any kinks before he steps into the ring again. “This will give us a chance to get to where we need to be,” he said.

The orthodox Bascome recorded a unanimous points victory against George Quintero, of the United States, on his professional debut in Florida last month.

Rego gave Bascome’s performance against the formidable southpaw the proverbial thumbs-up. “Nikki did a real good job and I was quite pleased with everything he did,” he said. “The guy that I put him with, most matchmakers that I deal with thought I should have put him with a lesser opponent. But I know Nikki and, when I heard about this southpaw he had to fight, we did not have to worry about him because we know how to fight southpaws. Nikki has been training with professional fighters for a long time, so this fight was just like another sparring session.

“Nikki gave a good account of himself and I was so pleased with his performance and so was everybody else over there. Even the guy he fought came to us and told us Nikki was so much better than he thought he was. Nikki is a very positive person who is in great shape and has a lot of stamina.”

Bascome’s character was severely tested against Quintero, who inflicted heavy punishment against his Bermudian opponent.

“Nikki got rocked in two rounds,” Rego said. “One round he got knocked against the ropes because he crossed his legs and got hit with a left hook that drove him against the ropes and he had to take an eight count, but still came back and won that round. Then in the fourth round he got tagged again, but he just kept punching.

“He did exactly what I asked him to do and is the most beautiful person to train because if you tell him something, when you come back to the gym you will find him at least trying to to do it.”