PENHILL boxer Kelvin Young says his win over Chris Hobbs on Sunday has given him the love for the sport back after nearly stepping away from the ring permanently.

After a first-round stoppage loss against Leon McKenzie in January, the 28-year-old pondered a career away from boxing but support from manager Keith Mayo had him jumping back on the horse to fight Chris Hobbs in Portsmouth.

A dislocated shoulder for the Hampshire fighter saw the contest cut short before the end of the third round, handing the British Challenge light-heavyweight title to Young and giving him a new lease of life in the sport.

“After the fight in London, I was contemplating on retiring. I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” said Young.

“I fell out of love with the sport for a bit. I had a few weeks out and I was thinking about opening a gym or training kids.

“Keith Mayo, my promoter and manager, put his arm around me and said he was behind me with whatever I wanted to do.

“When I got the opportunity to fight with Chris Hobbs, I took it with two hands and came back with the win and a new title, and it has given me a bit of love back for the sport.

“At first, I thought I had landed a good shot but I think Chris did something to his shoulder on the way down and I am not sure what happened but I will take it. It is back to winning ways and I’ll move on to the future.”

Sunday saw Young step up to light-heavyweight for the first time, having fought at super-middleweight previously, and ‘Young Gun’ believes the new allowance will enable him to concentrate on his boxing rather than maintaining weight.

“Moving up to light-heavyweight is the ideal weight for me now. I don’t have to kill myself to make weight,” he added.

“I am 6ft 2in and I started out as middleweight and I have grown out over the years, and I am just too big for that category. I walk around at 13-and-a-half stone and for me to get down to 12 stone is hard work.

“I am a lot stronger now. When I was sparring before the Leon McKenzie fight, I was sparring at light-middleweight and doing really well, but the last two or three weeks, I had to stop and just concentrate on cutting the weight down.

“I think that was the wrong thing to do and I don’t think that getting down to 12 stone suits me anymore.

“Keith has been working hard behind the scenes and there are going to be a couple of fights announced soon.

“I want to re-start what was a once blossoming career.”