GISBURN-BASED boxer Kenny Anderson could receive a date for his much-anticipated rematch with British champion George Groves before the end of the week.

Anderson came close to completing a major upset when he gave Groves a real scare in their dramatic first fight in November 2010, knocking down the highly-rated Londoner early in the bout.

The 29-year-old, who hails from Edinburgh but is trained by Kevin Maree at Stirk House, ran out of steam after taking the Common-wealth super middleweight bout at short notice and was eventually stopped in the sixth round.

Groves – tipped as a future world champion – has since gone on to win a high-profile fight against James DeGale to add the British title to his Commonwealth belt.

But Anderson has earned a second shot at Groves after the British Boxing Board of Control made him the mandatory challenger for the British title after the Scot won his last three fights in convincing fashion.

A gold medallist for Scotland at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, the Groves loss remains Anderson’s only defeat in 16 professional fights.

The rematch with Groves has gone to purse bids, where the two fighters’ promoters try to outbid each other for the right to stage the fight. A decision is expected on the bids today.

Anderson is represented by Matchroom, whose boxing arm is run by Eddie Hearn – son of Barry.

Frank Warren looks after Groves and may look to hold the fight in London on the same card as DeGale’s next bout.

A rematch between Groves and DeGale is also expected to take place at some point in the near future.

“If Frank Warren wins the purse bid it I think at the moment they are looking for it to be on March 3,” said Anderson’s trainer Maree.

“If Matchroom win it, it will be in Scotland on a date to be confirmed.

“Obviously we’d like Matchroom to win it because they represent us and also it would mean it would be on Sky Sports 1 rather than BoxNation (Warren’s new subscription boxing channel).

“But Kenny has been made the mandatory and this is where we’ve wanted to be for a couple of years.

“If you sign for a voluntary defence you would have to agree to sign with Frank Warren if you win, if it’s a mandatory you don’t have any of that.

“We’ve already started the training camp and even though we don’t know whether it will be in London or Scotland yet we have already got 60 people booked to travel by coach. Everyone at the gym is really excited about it.”

Groves is trained by Adam Booth, who has also been the mentor for former heavyweight world champion David Haye.

Anderson’s first fight with Groves took place at Manchester’s MEN Arena on the undercard of Haye’s world title fight with Audley Harrison.