LIAM Conroy is planning the next steps in his boxing career after landing a world title at the weekend.

The 23-year-old claimed the WBC Youth World Silver Light Heavyweight title with a fourth-round stoppage of Hungarian Ferenc Albert at Preston Guild Hall.

The knockout victory has lifted the Barrow man to seventh in the British light-heavyweight rankings, a position he hopes to build on.

But Conroy is also aware his rise will have attracted attention from his divisional rivals, who will be gunning to claim his scalp as they attempt to push themselves higher in the standings.

“I’ll have to speak to Johnney (Roye, his trainer) and see where we go from here, but hopefully I’ve got some big fights coming up,” said Conroy, who now has a record of 10 wins – three by knockout, three losses and one draw from his professional career.

“The domestic light-heavyweights will be wanting a bit of that ranking, they will be wanting to take it off me.

“I’ve still got time on my side. I’m one of the youngest in the top 10, quite a few of them are quite a bit older and I have that time on my side.

“I fell like I’m ready for some of those fights now. Realistically, not anything too big, but something up there.”

The Barrow ABC product’s rise up the British light-heavyweight rankings comes after he made the decision to move up from the super-middleweight division.

That came following disappointment in the televised Prizefighter event, when he was knocked out by Cello Renda, and the past nine months have seen him make steady progress.

The WBC win followed a British Challenge title success, and 6ft 1ins BAE worker Conroy feels he is much more at home with the higher weight, which allows him to be up to half-a-stone heavier at 12st 7lbs.

He added: “I feel so much better at light-heavyweight. I don’t feel like I’ve killed myself for weeks to get to the weight.

“It’s as easy people think with the weight. People must think I’m small, but I was definitely the bigger lad in there on Saturday night.

“Now training doesn’t take as much out of me just to get down to the weight and that has made me a better athlete.

“I’m training and eating healthily, but I’m eating enough to fuel my training and this is my natural weight, which is great.”