New WBA Continental bantamweight champion Kash Farooq insists it was worth waiting for.
The Renfrewshire Boxing Club puncher finally made his debut for Matchroom Boxing against Angel Aviles at the SSE Arena in Wembley last Friday.
And his first fight outside of Scotland, which was also his maiden show south of the border, couldn’t have gone any better after producing ten slick rounds to win a unanimous decision and take his record to 14-1.
It had been a year since Farooq’s last fight, a controversial split-decision loss to Lee McGregor at the Hydro last November, and his comeback had to be put on hold after the two previous attempts were postponed at short notice.
That produced a major headache in terms of getting his weight right for the bout, but the 24-year-old was delighted to finally get back into the ring and paid tribute to his strength and conditioning coach Alex Whelan - who owns Pro-Life Fitness Centre in Paisley - for getting him ring-ready to win on his long-awaited return.
“To be out for a year after my last fight was really tough,” he told Express Sport.
“The couple of weeks before the Aviles fight were a real headache as well with the stop-start of it being on, then off, then on. It was really difficult having to take the weight off and then put it back on again so quickly.
“Alex has helped me massively.
“He does my strength and conditioning work and over the last two years he’s really helped me raise my game.
“He does my diet and makes sure everything goes to plan and we managed to get everything just bang on for the last fight.
“It was worth the wait. I was really happy to go ten rounds and produce a really good fight and get the win.”
Farooq was making his debut for Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, who also promote stars Anthony Joshua, Julio Cesar Martinez, Josh Warrington and Billy Joe Saunders.
And he insists his dominant performance in Wembley shows he’s ready to take a step up to the next level.
Farooq said: “It was a massive moment for me in my first fight outside of Scotland.
“I think I proved I belong at this level. Eddie has been great with me so far and he told me I did a great job after the fight.
“He said we’d plan my next fight for spring next year, maybe around March or April time.
“I need to wait for a cut under my eye to settle down but I’m going to train right through the winter and keep myself ticking over and ready to go.”
Scottish boxing fans would love to see Farooq, who is trained by Craig Dickson and managed by Iain Wilson, get back in the ring with McGregor for a hotly-anticipated rematch.
And he insists he’d love to take on ‘Lightening Lee’ again next year to try and get his own back on the Edinburgh puncher.
Farooq added: “I’d absolutely love to get that rematch, for sure. He still needs to fight for the European bantamweight title which is early next year.
“It would be a chance to get some revenge and Eddie knows it would be a massive fight in Scotland so he’s up for it.
“Hopefully we could get it in the Hydro next summer and get a few thousand fans back in to see it.”
Whelan has seen the unbelievable amount of work Farooq has put in to get himself into the shape of his life.
And he believes the sky is the limit for the likeable boxer who has plenty of fans at his Paisley fitness base.
Whelan said: “Diet is absolutely massive for boxers now and thankfully the days of sitting in saunas in bin bags trying to lose weight are long gone.
“But they still need to be very strict and dedicated and that’s exactly what Kash is.
“Despite the call-offs he was bang on weight and people were asking how he still had so much energy from round one all the way to 10.
“That’s down to his hard work in the gym, eating properly and dedicating himself to the sport and honestly the sky’s the limit for him now.
“He just keeps improving and by the time next summer comes he’ll be even stronger.
“He’s loved by everyone here and he’s so down to earth.
“He’s a brilliant ambassador for us and I’m just over the moon to see him back to winning ways.
“Although he didn’t get the decision last time out, Kash won that fight against McGregor and it would be great to see them get a rematch sometime next year.
“They’re two brilliant Scottish boxers and I can see them both going for world titles some day .”
