AN unbeaten run which culminated in a place in the England Boxing national finals helped convince Paul O'Reilly now was the time to make the leap from the amateurs to the paid ranks.

It was announced at Barrow ABC's annual show at Cloud Nine on Saturday evening that the 28-year-old is taking his pro ticket, joining fellow former Brook Street boxers Liam Conroy, Ross Cooksey and Mike McGoldrick.

A seven-fight winning streak, which culminated in him finishing runner-up in the light-heavyweight class of the national Development Championships in November, helped give O'Reilly a confidence boost and he has now decided the next challenge is to test himself as a professional.

"What helped me decide it was I'd turned my amateur record around," said O'Reilly.

"I didn't start off the best, but then I went on a seven-win streak and got to the national final, which sort of made me think I was good enough to think about it.

I'm 29 this year, so I'm not as young as Liam and Ross, I'm more like Goldie's age so the time is now or never."

O'Reilly has yet to sign a promotional contract, but has been training with Conroy, Cooksey and McGoldrick in Preston since the start of the year.

He is hoping he could make his professional debut in the summer and is getting used to fighting over three-minute rounds rather than two minutes.

His former Barrow amateurs have given him plenty of advice too and O'Reilly is enjoying it.

"They've told me it's not all it's glammed up to be and there's a lot of hard work involved behind the scenes," said O'Reilly. "They've told me about that and to just enjoy it.

"It's longer rounds and it's adjusting to that. Amateur is quite fast-paced, so it's getting used to that.

"I've found it quite tough with the driving as well at that time, but it's been good."