NINETEEN months ago West Rainton’s Martin Ward was crushed and crest-fallen when he left the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle empty-handed following a technical draw in his world title bid with local rival Stuart Hall, writes Peter Mann.

That regional contest was halted after just 35 seconds of the second round when the pair were involved in an accidental clash of heads, and Ward required 15 stitches to a cut above his right eye.

A little re-evaluation and soul-searching afterwards has seen the 27-year-old come back with a bang, at super bantamweight where he now challenges Liverpool’s James ‘Jazza’ Dickens for the British strap next Friday, November 20, at Rainton Meadows Arena.

Since the draw with Hall, Ward has won four on the spin, dismissing Isaac Owusu, Kakhaber Avetisian and Simas Volosinas over six rounds, and stopping his last opponent, Elvis Guillen, in the third, leaving West Rainton’s finest singing the blues on Tyneside and his opponent all shook up.

With those four results under his belt Ward heads into his next challenge not only full confidence, but ready to push himself beyond and onto the world stage yet again, especially after some let downs of late.

Ward said: “I’m going to win this title it’s as simple as that for I don’t think he (Dickens) has fought anyone as good as me, not even Galahad and I’m better than him so this will be his toughest test.

“There’s been a few chances at English level fall through lately so it’s good for me to get back in there and be able to just knuckle down and move on.

"I’ve come a long way already since I boxed Hall and had some good six rounders so I’m going to give a winning performance, whether that’s stoppage or points, in front of mine and Tommy’s fans for it’s just a small village and they’re great; it’s amazing how they come out and support us how they do and we both thank them for that.”

With younger brother, Tommy Ward, going for his 16th straight win, the Neil Fannan-Dave Garside youngster is confident of his brother claiming the title and is looking forward to what promises to be an interesting match-up.

The two brothers are as close as they come and will always talk of the respective siblings chances in the ring and Tommy said: “It’s a cracking fight for our Martin to be involved in and will be really good for the fans as well as the family.

“He (Martin) is confident and looking really good in training so the change in weight isn’t fazing him, that’s no big deal and he’s done really well for himself considering what he has done already. I’d definitely say he’ll be fighting for a world title again within a year.”

Martin has the same sentiments towards Tommy, who’ll oppose the vastly experience Spaniard Reynaldo Agustin Cajina. In Cajina's fourteen wins and five draws of his 49 bout career to date he has stopped ten, five in the opening two rounds.

“Tommy put in a great performance last time out (when defeating Nasibu Ramadhani) so this is a really good opponent for him to go in with,” said Martin.

“He’s really flying though, performing and training great in the gym and I know he’ll be knocking on the doors of the major titles sooner rather than later which is good for the family as they’ll all be there on the night and both he and our Jimmy will walk out with me for my fight as well.”

The 12 fight card promoted by Phil Jeffries at Rainton Meadows next week also sees a return to the ring for the Gus Robinson duo Peter Cope and Anthony Hardy as well as that of Newcastle pair Sam Best and Lewis Ritson and Hetton-le-Hole’s Jordan King looking to continue their impressive starts in the paid ranks.

Tickets for ‘Fighting against Adversity’ are available from the boxers on the card priced at £35 with the doors scheduled to open at 5pm for a non-stop evening of 12 quality bouts.