By Martin Owens

Knightswood boxer Kash Farooq earned his ninth professional victory with a second round KO against Nicaraguan Jose Hernandez at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley then immediately turned his attention to winning the British Bantamweight title later this year.

Farooq, the mandatory challenger for the British belt, was brimming with confidence as Saturday night's demolition added another impressive KO to his record and is now counting down the days till he gets the chance to take on current champ Josh Wale.

He said: "My manager has told me the British title fight will definitely happen before October.

"I'm young and I'm hungry. Wale has got the experience so don't get me wrong it's going to be a hard fight but I'm confident that I've worked hard. He hasn't changed his style much, he will come forward but I'm not that bothered."

Defending champion Wale, who is eight years older than Farooq, has got the experience having fought 37 times and defended his title twice but the The St Andrew’s Sporting Club boxer insists he only needs to look back to his own experience to draw confidence ahead of the anticipated bout.

"I've sparred with WBA & IBF World Champion Ryan Burnett and held my own against him and had advice from his trainer Adam Booth who gave me a lot of compliments so that was good confidence boost. My manager will be sending me down to England again before the Wale fight. We don't know who I'll be sparring with yet but if Burnett is available again I'm open."

Farooq hasn't had the easiest of starts to his boxing career with the 22 year old almost calling it quits early on but the scrapper nicknamed 'untouchable' has not only persevered but thrived with a British title now on the horizon.

He said: "I can't thank my mum enough for making me stick at boxing. Both of my trainers passed away in the space of three or four months. I was very close to them so after that I had to ask myself if I wanted to continue because I didn't have anyone else close to me in the sport. That broke my heart. I'm thankful I stuck it out though, I would have had so much regrets but I'm still going."

If Farooq does win the contest, he will be the first British bantamweight champion from Scotland since 1997 and the youngster is adamant he will be bringing the belt home.

He added: "I've been working hard. I'm young, I'm hungry and I'm confident that I can bring this title back up to Scotland."