Paul Hyland jnr aiming to have massive 2019

The young Belfast lightweight faces Czech champion, Miroslav Serban.

And after losing in a British title challenge to Lewis Ritson in Newcastle last year, before returning with a win over Giovanny Martinez he believes seeing off Serban could lead to another title shot.

“A win here will take be back up the rankings and that’s where I want to be.

“I want to be fighting for major titles come the summer because boxing’s a short career.

“You don’t get loads of years, so I’d rather try and get what I want now while I’m young and fit.”

But Hyland knows that Serban is not coming to Belfast to make up the numbers.

“He’s got a good record, so I have had some good sparring against Anthony Cacace to get ready for it.

“He will be coming here to win. We both only have one defeat and has been a Czech champion.

“I noticed he used to box at welterweight and now he’s down at lightweight, so I think he’ll be a big enough lad.

“I’ve watched a few clips of him and he’s handy enough with his hands. He boxes, slips and attacks so

“I’m expecting him to be strong, but we’ve been working on switching styles and boxing at times.

“I think I could be a bit sharper than him, but I think he’ll be very strong.”

And Hyland says he is looking forward to fighting at the Belfast venue which has staged so many great fights over the years.

“I remember when I was young, going to watch Martin Lindsay fight Paul Appleby there and ‘Big Rogie’ (Martin Rogan) too,” he added.

“The buzz was always class and now I’ve got my chance to fight there so I’m buzzing for it. It should be a really good atmosphere.”

“And I lost that fight against Ritson. I didn’t get started that night and I know people weren’t expecting me to win, but it hurt that I didn’t give a better account of myself. The British title is something I still want to win and I still have realistic ambitions to do that.”