Big night on Friday for local boxers Cheyanne O'Neill and Joe Ward

Two well-known local boxers are due to step into the ring on opposite sides of the Atlantic this Friday night (April 1).

Battery Heights, Athlone, native Cheyanne O'Neill is preparing to make her professional debut on a night of boxing at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow.

Moate's Joe Ward, meanwhile, will be in action for the first time this year. He had been due to box in Canada last week but that fight was postponed and has now been rescheduled for the Chicago area on Friday.

Cheyanne (25), a member of the Defence Forces who served on a tour of duty in Lebanon last year, announced in January that she was turning professional.

She is due to feature on a fight night which will be headlined by Scottish featherweight prospect Gary Ducie.

Cheyanne had initially been due to box former African Games medallist Nancy Moreira, but there has since been a change of opponent and she will now face Vaida Masiokaite, a 34-year-old from Lithuania.

Cheyanne's promoters, Keynoch Boxing, shared a video which showed her being put through her paces in the gym ahead of Friday's bout.

Discussing her opponent this week, Cheyanne told the Westmeath Independent that although Masiokaite has just two wins and four draws from 22 professional fights, the Lithuanian "has shared the ring with some elite females from Britain" and has only one stoppage defeat on her record.

"A good performance in this fight will stand to me going forward," added Cheyanne.

As an amateur, she won national championships in several age categories and represented Ireland on a number of occasions, including winning silver at the European Youth Championships in Italy in 2014.

In North America, Joe Ward had been due to return to action last Friday night in Quebec, Canada. That fight was called off at a day's notice due to an issue with Ward's opponent, the Mexican veteran Oscar Riojas.

However, the bout has since been rescheduled for Des Plaines, on the outskirts of Chicago, this Friday.

It will be the eighth fight of the local man's pro career, and will be his first scheduled eight-round contest. It's due to be streamed online at BXNGTV.com

Ward's management team, Times Square Boxing, announced the fight, saying: "This Friday, our future champion 'Mighty' Joe Ward is back in action, stepping up against an experienced veteran.

"If you're in Chicago come out and watch Joe take another step towards boxing stardom, and if you can't make it, tune in to BXNG to catch all the action."