McIntyre eyes titles after winning return

The Leigh Park light-heavyweight returned with a routine 80-71 points success over Bulgarian journeyman Tayar Mehmed last weekend.

McIntyre floored the durable Bulgarian on the way to the eight-round victory in his first contest since a shock English title defeat to Liam Conroy last September.

But the 17-2 man admitted it wasn’t all plain sailing and a stoppage never really looked on the cards.

McIntyre was pleased to shake off the ring rust, however, and show there is still plenty of gas in the tank.

He said: ‘He was like a brick wall – my hands were getting smashed to pieces every time I punched him!

‘He had only been stopped three times and they were all by heavyweights, so I think I could have hit him with a baseball bat and he wouldn’t have gone down!

‘I boxed to orders, though, and I felt there were improvements there, so I can’t moan.

‘I’ve got the comeback out of the way and I’m back in the mix now.

‘Other people were a lot more worried than I was after the last fight.

‘It was about getting back in there and getting on with it.

‘It would have been nice to have a spectacular finish.

‘But I got in there, did the eight rounds, did them comfortably and got the job done.’

After the Conroy loss, McIntyre is now in a hurry to get back into title contention.

He has a new team in place after linking up with newly-formed outfit Atlantic Promotions, Brighton-based trainer Scott Welch and manager Steve Goodwin.

The 30-year-old is eyeing a rubber-match with old foe Miles Shinkwin as a possible avenue to go down.

The pair have met in two exciting to-and-fro contests with each collecting a win apiece.

Conroy and Shinkwin meet in an English title clash in Preston on March 31.

McIntyre anticipates Shinkwin coming out on top in that meeting, opening the way to another meeting with his rival.

He said: ‘I am not hanging around.

‘I’m having a few days off but then I want to get back to it and really push on.

‘I have got to move on and get among the big fights.

‘I know I’m ready for the title fights.

‘I’m looking at Shinkwin. I think Miles outboxes Conroy.

‘Maybe he’ll feel he’s the favourite.

‘If he wins I can’t see him going for me as a voluntary!

‘But that’s definitely one for the future.

‘It’s worthy of TV with the story behind it.

‘It’d be the third fight and the decider. It’d be massive.

‘There’s mutual respect between us and a little bit of needle, too. It’s all fun and games.’