Northampton boxer Conway wants to rule the world

The 23-year-old has already fought for the British super-welterweight title, and was within a whisker of winning it when he drew with champion Ted Cheeseman last summer.

Conway has made no secret of the fact he is determined to become the first male professional champion of Britain, and he is 100 per cent confident that he will do just that.

But he insists achieving such a feat wouldn’t be the end of his boxing journey, it would only be the start.

“I want to be at the absolute top, and that is it,” said Conway, who has won 14 of his 16 pro bouts to date.

“I don’t think I will have done justice to myself if I don’t.

“I want to be world champion and I want to be a superstar in boxing. I don’t do another job, I literally put everything into this.”

There are plenty in the world of boxing who believe Conway has the talent and the will to go all the way, but there are also doubters as well, with many questioning whether or not he has the punching power to land the knockout blows.

Conway has won three fights by knockout in his career to date, but the last one was back in March 2018, and all of his most recent nine bouts have gone the distance - although the Northampton fighter has still won seven and drawn one of those.

“I have had a few doubters after my last couple of fights on Sky, with people saying ‘he can’t punch’, or ‘he’s not carrying the power’,” said Conway.

“Well, if you ask anybody who steps into the ring with me, I do have that power.

“There are no excuses in boxing, but there are certain things that have pulled me back from getting those sort of knockouts.

“I have had terrible injuries on my hands, and it has held me back a little bit, but I am still getting those wins.

“I still make sure I am making those statements, and people are still saying my name when they are talking about the super-welterweights, and British titles.

“These hands are getting there, the knockouts will start coming, and people will soon stop talking this ‘he can’t punch’ rubbish.”

They are sentiments echoed by Conway’s trainer and father, James, who believes it is only a matter of time before those stoppages start to happen. He feels the boxer is a little too keen to finish fights off early, and that is leading to him ‘rushing his work’ and failing to deliver the telling blow.

Conway, who is scheduled to fight former English champion Navid Mansouri in June (coronavirus pandemic permitting), was a convincing winner over Craig O’Brien in his most recent fight at the York Hall in Bethnel Green, but his coach feels he could have performed better.

“Kieron was a little bit sloppy, and off the back of that we have worked on loads of things, and about finishing his punches off a little bit more,” said Conway Snr.

“He really has increased his punch power, and whether or not he stops people it doesn’t really matter to me.

“It does to him, but I think that also contributes to him not stopping people because he starts rushing his work a little bit.

“It is a really fine line, because Kieron knows he is rushing his work, but I don’t want him to slow his pace down, I just want him to be more calm when the stoppage is there, or the finish is a possibility.

“He does rush it a little, but we have worked on it and he has made big improvements, even since his last fight.”