Team Shoe-Box duo Conway and Stephenson targeting title success in Birmingham

Both travel to the bp pulse LIVE Arena in Birmingham to fight on the undercard of the WBC interim world flyweight title fight between Sunny Edwards and Galal Yafai.

Conway takes on Ryan Kelly for the vacant Commonwealth middleweight crown, targeting a 22nd win in 26 professional fights, while Stephenson, who has a record of nine wins from 11 bouts, squares up to Troy Jones, aiming to claim his English light heavyweight title.

They are both tough opponents for the town pair, with Jones defending a 100 per cent record from 11 pro fights, and Kelly boasting a record of 19 wins and one draw in his 24 fights.

Team Shoe-Box trainer James Conway, who is also Kieron's father, believes his fighters are in good shape to grab the glory at the weekend, and call a winning halt to what has been a frustrating time for both.

"Kieron has had a stop-start camp," admitted Conway. "We were originally preparing for the prizefighter semi-final against Aaron McKenna in Japan in October, but that tournament has been put on hold.

"The preparation for that fight had Kieron in the best condition of his entire life, and I had no doubt he was going to go to Japan and produce his best performance to date.

"However, we had to jiggle some things around try to give him a week off and then get back in the gym for a new challenge

"It’s unfortunate that boxing politics managed to get in the way, as Kieron was due to box Brad Pauls for the British title.

"But for whatever reason, that fight is now not happening and the fresh challenge of boxing for the Commonwealth title versus Ryan Kelly is all that’s on our mind.

"Kieron and Ryan have shared rounds in the past many years ago.

"I would suggest both fighters have improved since, and I may even suggest that Ryan would be a more difficult proposition than Brad Pauls, but it’s not a task that daunts us in the slightest.

"We have not taken any chances, but I believe that Kieron is better than Ryan in almost every department and will show that on fight night."

Turning his attention to Stephenson, who hails from Bedford, Conway said: "Mike has been eagerly waiting for an opportunity.

"He formerly won the Midlands light heavyweight title and wanted to move on, but the opportunity didn’t arise at the time and he went a little bit stale in the gym.

"He was finding it hard to get motivated with things going on in his personal life and really wanting to move on rather than defend the Midlands title, so when he was called to defend it didn’t quite work out where he fell short by a point after the interrupted preparation.

"Now all distractions are behind him and this camp has been the best camp that he’s had.

"I'm sure he’s ready to do himself justice even though a heavy underdog and against a worthy opponent on Saturday."