Miles Shinkwin says his upcoming Southern Area title fight against Chris Hobbs is a step backwards, but one which will provide his career with a timely boost.

The Bushey fighter faces Hobbs at York Hall on Saturday, September 23, where he will look to reclaim the title he previously held in 2015.

Having lost an English light-heavyweight title bout against Joel McIntyre in his last outing, the meeting with Hobbs is undoubtedly a less glamorous affair.

Shinkwin, however, is refusing to view the fight as anything other than a positive and he feels victory could act as a springboard to a career which has stalled in recent years.

“It is one step back to take two forward. I could go and fight a journeyman and gain nothing from it, gain no ranking points and be sat here in a few months having the same conversation,” Shinkwin said.

“Instead I can fight Chris Hobbs for a title, get back down to a fighting weight and get another belt around my waist, then hopefully more people will want to fight me.

“It is no secret that I wasted the last 18 months or two years of my career with a couple of mistakes. I have not performed in certain fights and other things have gone against me.”

Hobbs arrives at the fight, which will be his second shot at claiming the Southern Area crown, with a record of 6-2-1.

He was comprehensively beaten by Anthony Yarde in his last fight after being stopped him in the fourth round of a contest which saw the29-year-old hit the canvass six times.

The sense is that Shinkwin will also have too much for his Southampton opponent, but he is still wary of a fighter who will give his all in what is the biggest fight of his career.

“He is in the army, so he will be fit and tough. With all due respect to him, southern area is probably his level, so this is his world title fight,” he said.

“For me it is a case of looking to get that belt then going on to bigger things sooner rather than later.

“I never go into any fight being complacent. My coaching team would never allow that to happen and I am the most competitive man in the world.

“Even if I am playing cards, or table tennis, I want to win because I am super competitive. That competitiveness won’t allow me to be complacent.”

The fight will be Shinkwin’s first since he changed coach and started training out of Don Charles’ gym, and he will see him get reacquainted with the ring for the first time in 10 months.

He feels he will have no issue finding his form ahead of the bout and says Charles’ training regime is helping him maintain his fitness levels.

“It will have been a while, but I have been in the gym since I was three-years-old, so a few months out in the grand scheme of things isn’t a long time,” he said.

“I have been in the gym now for the last six weeks and I will get plenty of sparring in to shake off any rust.

“I am getting used to the new trainer and I will start this training camp from a good base rather than from a point of no fitness.”

Away from the gruelling routine of fitness and sparring which awaits Shinkwin over the next 10 weeks, the 29-year-old has a sole focus for the autumn meet.

He is eager to entertain and show the sort of quality which has been missing in many of his fights, but he insists he has in abundance.

He said: “I am really looking forward to the fight and I can’t wait to get started. I have said for a long time that I am going to turn it on and don’t seem to do it.

“I haven’t quite performed at the level I know I am capable of yet. I have fought world champions in the gym, so I know what I can do. People haven’t seen that on a fight night and now is the time to start doing it.”