Northampton boxing star Kieron Conway set for February return

Conway has been pencilled in to appear on the undercard of the WBA featherweight world title bout between Leigh Wood and Mauricio Lara at the Motorpoint Arena on Saturday, February 18.

The Team Shoe-Box middleweight, who hasn't fought since losing on points to American Austin 'Ammo' Williams in Las Vegas in September, will be taking on the in-form and experienced Portuguese Jorge Silva.

Silva is now 39, but is on a run of five straight wins achieved in his homeland, all of them by knockout.

In all he has fought 28 times as a professional, winning 21 and losing seven, with 12 of his victories being stoppages.

The clash with Conway will be his first in the United Kingdom, with the majority of his previous contests having been staged in Portugal, although he has also fought in Spain, France, Finland, Denmark and Croatia.

Silva's most recent loss was by unanimous points decision at the hands of unbeaten German Leon Bauer in December, 2018.

Conway, who is nicknamed 'Too Class', will be looking to get back on the winning trail following his narrow defeat to Williams in their WBA International middleweight title contest.

The loss was only the third of his 22-fight professional career (one of those a three-rounder in an Ultimate Boxxer contest) but the second in the space of four fights as the 26-year-old also lost on points to Frenchman Souleymane Cissokho in Texas in May, 2021.

On that occasion he was defending his WBA Inter-Continental super welterweight title.

Conway has made it clear he is now going to focus on becoming the British champion in 2023.

Speaking before Christmas, the former King's Heath amateur said: "This year coming up, I 100 per cent want that British title.

"It is something I am going to make sure happens, and I will put myself in whatever positions I have to to do that.

"It will be history for my town as well, to be the first ever British male champion, so it would be good to bring that back.

"Then after that I can push on, and then hopefully one day in the future me and Ammo Williams can get it back on.

"He agreed to that already, I have had it on social media, I have had it in person, the evidence is there, and he agreed. One day in the future we can hopefully meet again and make a big show of it."

Meanwhile, Conway's fellow Team Shoe-Box professional Eithan James is finally set to get his crack at the European title in March.

James, whose previous Euro title clash with Connor Parker was called off in November after his opponent fell ill, is scheduled to fight for the belt in Telford on March 25.

There is plenty of other bouts coming up for Team Shoe-Box's other professional fighters as well.

There is a professional show planned for the Park Inn Hotel in Northampton town centre on February 24, and scheduled to fight are Ben Vaughan, Sam Daly, Nico Michael and Dominic Felix.

There is also an area title shot for Shoe-Box middleweight Mike Stephenson, who will travel to Wolverhampton on March 10 to take on home fighter Andy Owen.