RYAN Martin believes that he is ready to step up and start fighting for titles.

The 22-year-old will look to stretch his unbeaten record to seven on Saturday, March 12, on the undercard of Kelly Morgan’s WBC Silver middleweight title clash with Ghanaian Gifty Ankrah at the Oasis Leisure Centre.

Welterweight Martin, who is hoping to fight for a WBC Youth Silver title in the summer, has also been testing himself in sparring against the current Southern Area champion Tamuka Mucha, as well as Malmesbury's English super-lightweight title-holder Joe Hughes.

Although the former England and Walcot amateur is looking towards international match-ups, it was the time in the ring with the Zimbabwean-born Mucha that helped him gauge where he is in his career.

“It was good. It was good to see the levels, to see whether I could stand and trade with him,” Martin told the Advertiser.

“I think it went really well. We had some good hard spars. He is technically good, busy and fit as a fiddle.

“I believed, before I sparred with Tamuka, I could stand with any welterweight in the country.

“I think that I have the ability and strength to stand with any of them - I just proved to myself what I already knew.”

Martin, who last fought in October when out-pointing Faheem Khan to win the British Challenge title, is looking forward to getting back in the ring after seeing a December outing cancelled.

“We had a few days off after I found out I had to pull out of the December show,” he said.

“I have been sparring all over the country, up in Sheffield with Team GB, Tamuka, Joe Hughes and Danny Butler in Bristol - it has been manic.

“It has been a long camp, so I am looking forward to this being over.

“I want to step up in opponent now. The next couple years will be testing couple of years and push me on to bigger titles, like the Southern Area and English title.”