Welsh boxer Barry Jones has brushed aside suggestions that he is risking his life by continuing his ring career.

The former World Champion super-featherweight was stripped of his crown after a brain scan scare two years ago.

The 25-year-old Cardiff boxer is preparing to challenge for the WBO title he once held with a fight against ubeaten Brazilian Acelino Freitas next Saturday.

It will be Jones' second fight since having the green light to carry on boxing following an appeal hearing 14 months ago.

Newpapers have reported several medical experts and commentators who have called for him to be barred.

Professor Gareth Roberts, an expert in the link between boxing injuries and Alzheimer's disease, said of Jones: "This man is literally putting his life in someone else's hands.

"He is dicing with death," the professor added.

The veteran commentator Harry Carpenter was quoted as saying the fight should not be allowed to go ahead.

"My personal view is that boxers who have any sign of brain damage should not box again," he said.

Jones won the WBO title in 1997 by out-pointing veteran Colombian Wilson Palacios at the London Arena.

But plans for a lucrative defence in Paris were wrecked when his routine annual brain scan showed tissue changes.

Brain scan scare

A slight increase in the gap between two brain membranes prompted the British Boxing Board of Control to withdraw his licence.

Jones returned to boxing with a points victory over Chris Williams in Cardiff last June.

He remains unbeaten in his professional career.

"I've been told by a top brain surgeon that I'm okay to carry on boxing, so I'll carry on," said Jones.

"If he hadn't said that, the Board wouldn't have licensed me - and I wouldn't have wanted to continue anyway."

The BBBC was almost bankrupted late last year after boxer Michael Watson, who suffered brain injuries in a super-middleweight bout against Chris Eubank, won �1m in compensation.

The BBBC, which was not insured, is still appealing the award but has been temporarily placed under administration.