WHILE there may be a few butterflies floating around in Liam Conroy’s stomach when he walks to the ring tomorow night, his nerves will be eased by the very familiar surroundings.

Conroy takes on Steve Cooper at Manchester’s Bowlers Arena in a 10-round tussle for the Northern Area Light Heavyweight crown.

And while the Trafford Park venue is 100 miles from his Barrow home, Conroy has been there that many times it will almost feel like he is on his own patch.

Seven of Conroy’s 16 pro fights have taken place at Bowlers, where he has always been roared on by vociferous travelling support from Furness.

“I enjoy it at Bowlers,” said Conroy, whose aim is to win the area belt and in doing so put himself in the picture for a shot at the English light- heavyweight crown.

“I’ve got some good memories there. I’ve I boxed there seven times and won five of them.

“Everyone really gets behind me there and make a lot of noise with the vuvuzelas. It always a good atmosphere and I think there are 60-odd coming through to watch this time, which is good.”

Conroy has fought at seven different venues during a five-year pro career which started as a 19-year-old in June 2012 with a knockout victory over Danny Brown in a hotel suite inside Bolton’s Reebok Stadium (now the Macron).

Then came seven consecutive fights at Bowlers, resulting in five wins and two defeats. That sequence, between October 2012 and June 2014, began with victory over Dan Blackwell, before Conroy suffered his first defeat when he lost a points decision to Gilson De Jesus.

The Barrow ABC product bounced back with wins over Kieron Gray, Duane Green, Gary Cooper and Robert Studzinski, but then lost on points to the experienced Max Maxwell.

That was Conroy’s last appearance at Bowlers to date, and six months later he returned to the Whites Hotel at Bolton Wanderers to beat Haidar Sadik with the second knockout of his pro career.

Next up Conroy was elevated to top billing for the first time in his career with a place on Matchroom’s Prizefighter the Middleweights III show in front of live Sky Sports cameras at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens. Unfortunately, his inexperience at that level was exposed by the hard-hitting Cello Renda, who inflicted a first-round stoppage.

Far from allowing that disappointment to ruin a promising career, Conroy dusted himself down, worked hard on his skills and technique with the help of trainer Johnney Roye, and has bounced back in style.

He had get up off the canvas to earn a draw against Mitch Mitchell in his next outing at the Evoque Nightclub, in Preston, and since then Conroy has enjoyed a run of five straight victories and picked up two belts along the way.

His second successive fight at Evoque saw him beat Elvis Dube and then in February 2016 he lifted the British Challenge belt at Preston Guild Hall with victory over Krzysztof Golec, after Saturday’s opponent Cooper pulled out on medical grounds.

Four months later, Conroy enjoyed his greatest night to date, when he returned to the Guild Hall to dispatch Hungarian Ferenc Albert and land the WBC World Youth Silver crown.

Conroy’s next bout saw him perform at the cavernous Manchester Arena as he beat tough Frenchman Baptiste Castegnaro on the undercard of the first Anthony Crolla-Jorge Linares world title showdown. His most recent contest came nearly three months ago when he stopped Yailton Neves at The Park Hotel near Chorley in a hastily-arranged bout after Cooper had pulled out of a Northern Area title clash.

The 24-year-old BAE Systems mechanical engineer has maintained a busy training regime since that fight, with sparring partners including his MTK Manchester stablemate Jimmy Kelly, plus unbeaten Manchester pros Craig Bunn and Lyndon Arthur.

“I didn’t stop training after my last fight, I just kept training right through so I’m feeling really fit,” said Conroy.

“I’ve got loads of sparring done, including a couple of 10-rounders. There was one where Craig Bunn was in for the first six rounds and then Jimmy Kelly was in for the last four. That was hard work, but I enjoyed it. Craig Bunn is the only person to stop the lad I’m fighting, so that was a good experience.

“I also did 10 rounds with Jimmy and 10 rounds with a couple of young lads from the gym alternating every two rounds, and I also did seven rounds with ex-GB boxer Lyndon Arthur, which was really good.

“I feel like I’ve been sparring at a high level for quite a few weeks and I haven’t had any injuries. Usually you get a little niggle and you have to have a week out.”

Conroy believes the comparative longevity of his career and his big-fight experience will give him the edge over the 30-year-old Cooper – who has won four and lost two of his six pro fights.

“I feel like I’m the more experienced of the two in the case of big nights,” he said. “Every one of my last five has been scheduled for 10 rounds until late replacements, so I’ve done a lot of 10-round camps. I’m ready to go, give it my best, and hopefully get another belt. The aim is to get an area title and then go for the English.”

Conroy once again expressed his gratitude for the contributions of Matt Green, of Dalton-based Cumbria Strength and Conditioning, and Diane Singleton, of Barrow’s DS Fitness Centre, in helping with his preparations.