MIKE McGoldrick is waiting until after this Friday’s fight to see if trainer Johnney Roye thinks he is ready to take the next step in his professional career.

The Barrow light-heavyweight faces Zach Thompson in a four-round contest at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse, aiming to make it three wins from his first three professional outings.

Having only turned pro this year after representing Barrow ABC in the amateur ranks for many years, McGoldrick is keen to advance to longer fights as soon as possible, although he will wait until after the clash with Thompson to see if that will come next.

“It all depends what Johnney says,” said McGoldrick. “Even when you’re training for four rounds, you train for more so you’ve got enough in the tank.

“We’ll have to see after this next four-rounder and, hopefully, next year we’ll step it up and see if we can do six rounds.

“The lower-level titles come at eight and 10 rounds minimum, so we have to work up as quick as we can towards that, given I’m 33.”

McGoldrick had his first professional outing in March when he out-pointed durable Remigijus Ziausys.

That was followed by another points win over the tricky Callum Ide in July and while Friday’s encounter is likely to be his last of 2018, McGoldrick is keen to get going again as soon as possible next year.

“I think this is the last fight of the year and, although I don’t know what’s going on next year yet, we’ll be looking to get out as early as we can,” said McGoldrick. “It was March this year when we first got out, but I think we’ll try to get a fight in January or February if we can.”