AFTER winning his first two professional bouts, boxer Liam O'Reilly says he is looking forward to a successful and busy 2020 in the ring.

The 31-year-old fighter from Riddlesden, nicknamed 'Lights Out', saw his hands raised after a points decision in his favour in his second professional match against London's Jordan Grannum at Blackburn's King George's Hall.

O'Reilly's preparations for this fight had to altered as his original opponents, Glasgow's Gary McGuire, pulled out two weeks before.

Now the welterweight has resumed training for his next bout, believed to be early next year.

He does not want to stop there and is already targeting a title assault within the next two years.

Orthodox right-hander O'Reilly says he is loving life as a pro fighter after a successful start.

He said: "It's living up to my expectations and more. There is no better feeling than walking to the ring and the crowd cheering you on. Ticket sales have been good.

"Josh Grannum was a weight class above me. It was a good test for me. He is well known. We fought four v three-minute rounds. I had another good crowd following me for the

"It's going really well. I am holding down a full-time job as well. I have an understanding boss and if I'm working away from home I always train at a professional gym. I meet a lot of people while I do that. It works for me.

"I had a couple of weeks off after the Grannum fight, but I was back in the gym on Monday. I put on a bit of weight during those two weeks. My weight goes up and down.

"Hopefully it will be a big year next year for me.

"I have to get ready as I'm looking to have my next fight in February or March next year.

"I'm looking to get in five or six fights next year. I have a good crowd going.

"I'm absolutely buzzing. I'm loving every bit of it.

"I just have to keep training hard and keep winning. Hopefully I will be fighting for titles in the next couple of years. I'm 32 next year. I want a title shot by the time I'm 34. I will keep pushing forward. Hopefully it will work out well for me.

He made a belated professional boxing debut in August this year.

He was scheduled to make his welterweight division debut in June, but small issues with his medical meant he had to postpone his bow for a couple of months.

But it was worth the wait as he claimed an unanimous points win in his four-round battle with experienced Fonz Alexander, 31, from Newark.

O'Reilly's victory at the Municipal Hall, Colne, in front of a huge following of his family and friends, was even more impressive considering he was facing a fighter with more than 100 professional bouts under his belt.

The father-of-three juggles his full-time job as an engineer for Keighley company Escalutions with a 90-minute round trip to training at his gym in Accrington most days. He is guided by his trainer Jason Curtis at Kokoro Gym in the Lancashire town and promoter Kevin Maree.

O'Reilly has previously said boxing taught him self-discipline, especially during his teens when he fought as an amateur and, after a 10-year break from action, the sport also saw him lose seven stone, after he got up to 17-and-a-half stone.

He previously told the Keighley News: "I boxed as an amateur when I was 15 and my last amateur fight was when I was 19. I stopped for 10 years. I had four knock-out fights when I came back and my last one was in November last year.

"Back in the day, I got in a lot of trouble. Boxing saved me. It really sorted me out. Boxing put me back on the straight and narrow."