JAMIE Moore would be happy to take on veteran Michele Piccorillo in his own Italian backyard - so long as he finally gets a European title shot.

The Salford light-middleweight has spent three years, most of that time as British champion, waiting and praying for a crack at the EBU belt.

But his frustration is boiling over after the deadline for purse bids for his proposed clash with 37-year-old Piccorillo was postponed by a month.

Moore (pictured) had twice lined up a crack at former champion Zaurbek Baysangurov, and twice the Ukrainian pulled out with injuries. When a third attempt was made to arrange the bout, Baysangurov pulled out 20 minutes before the deadline for purse bids and vacated, when he realised that Moore's promoters Steve Wood and Frank Maloney would win it and stage the fight on Greater Manchester soil.

The latest setback has Moore re-thinking his Euro ambitions: "I'm fed up with it, it looks like it's destined never to happen," said the Salford southpaw who turns 30 - the age at which he always intended to retire - next month. "I've been waiting for three years and been the mandatory challenger for 12 months, and still not fought for the European title.

"This time it has been put off because the Italians wanted more time to try to sort out a TV date but I can't hang on forever.

"At the moment we are exploring other options in America, and if the chance to take on a big name fighter over there comes up, something which would put me in the frame for a world title shot, I will take it. I have had that many opponents pull out that it makes it hard to get motivated - you train for a fight that half of you is expecting not to happen."

But Moore's handlers are still working on a possible deal with Piccorillo ahead of the purse bids - and Moore, who currently holds the Irish title through his mother's ancestry, says he would be more than happy to travel to Italy.

The old gag in boxing is that you have to knock your man out to get a draw in Italy, but two Manchester-based fighters have already bucked the trend in the last 15 years, with Carl Thompson stopping Massimiliano Duran to take the European cruiserweight crown in Ferrara in 1994 and Robin Reid beating Vincenzo Nardiello to the WBC super-middleweight title in Milan in 1997.

Moore says he would happily follow in their footsteps. "I am confident of fighting anyone at my weight in the world, I just want an opportunity," he said. "Good fighters have always gone to Italy and won, and I can do the same. Piccorillo has been, and still is, a good fighter, but I am at my peak and he is on the slide at 37."

Depending on what the purse bids reveal, Moore is ideally hoping to slip in an eight-round warm-up fight, and then face Piccorillo in England in February. If the Italians win the bid, the situation will have to be re-assessed.

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