NICK Blackwell plans to ease up on the Christmas turkey this year as he bids to stay razor-sharp ahead of a crucial year in the ring.

The Trowbridge middleweight star is gearing up for his third crack at the British title in the New Year but still doesn’t expect to be thrust into a re-match with current holder Billy Joe Saunders, despite the British Boxing Board of Control putting a clash between the two out for purse bids.

The 24-year-old also has a fight date in Monte Carlo on the undercard of Martin Murray and Gennady Golovkin’s world title showdown on February 21 to contend with and ‘Bang Bang’ plans to remain a regular fixture in the gym throughout the festive period.

“In years before, I’ve had about a month off at Christmas and gone a bit crazy but I won’t be doing that this year,” said Blackwell.

“When you have time off, you lose that sharpness, that speed and that fitness. I started training again on Monday and I’m already a few kilos off my weight.

“Next year is a big year for me and there are some big fights open to me.

“Billy Joe will vacate his titles sooner rather than later because he’s going to be fighting Andy Lee (for the WBO title), so I’ll probably end up fighting John Ryder for the British.

“But he’s got a tough fight at the end of January, probably against the guy who beat Matthew Macklin (Jorge Sebastian Heiland), so if he doesn’t get through that, then there’s Spike O’Sullivan, or Adam Etches.

“I’ve got the fight in Monaco to think about too. I don’t know who I’ll be fighting in that one but if the British title fight gets made for three or four weeks after, then I’ll obviously just concentrate on that.”

Blackwell is still confident of going out to America in January to spar with Kazakh superstar Golovkin in the build-up to his fight with the Trowbridge’s fighter’s former British title opponent Murray.