LAWRENCE Bennett says that he wants to continue his rise after securing his first official world ranking.

The Swindon cruiserweight has been ranked 74th in the world by the International Boxing Organisation (IBO) in their April rankings following his stunning first round stoppage of Jamie Hearn at the York Hall last month.

And while the 32-year-old self-styled ‘Bad Boy’ is not looking to go down the IBO route he is pleased that he has made their top 100 in the 200lb division.

“It’s a privilege,” he said. “Now I have to keep pushing forward.

“But the IBO is not the route for me, I’m hoping to become the mandatory for the English title this week.”

However, Bennett says that he is unsure whether he will get to face reigning English champion Matty Askin, who has toyed with the idea of hanging up the gloves following his points loss to British and Commonwealth title holder Ovill McKenzie.

But should Askin decide to fight on the Swindon southpaw, who has won seven of his eight fights, is confident that he can beat him.

“That was a terrible fight (Askin-McKenzie),” Bennett said. “Ovill was just looking to land his big bomb and Askin just wanted to hold.

“If Matty decides that he wants to fight on, I have seen that he is thinking of retiring, then on that performance I will beat him.

“We are just waiting to hear from the board this week and then we move on from there.”

Bennett’s rise to the top has been quite remarkable having only had two amateur fights in his early 20s before meeting his trainer Islan Eltuyev while working as doorman in Swindon.

“He said to me come down the gym and that I could earn a bit of money as a journeyman fighter,” he said.

“I didn’t really know what that was but Islan said that I could probably earn £5,000 a month to do that and my eyes lit up - I was only on about £60 doing the door.

“After eight fights I have defended my Southern Area title and needed just one minute 43 (seconds) to knockout a guy Chad Dawson (a former world champion) needed three to do so.”