NICK Blackwell is confident he can cement his status as one of the country's most promising middleweights by learning the lessons from the first professional defeat of his career.

'Bang Bang' Blackwell, 20, will step back between the ropes on a Friday night bill in Swindon next month as he bids to bounce back from June's British title loss to St Helens' Martin Murray in Wigan.

The Trowbridge puncher will box in a six-rounder against an unnamed opponent on the September 30 undercard at Swindon's Oasis Centre, where hometown middleweight Kelvin Young's international Masters fight against Birmingham’s Tony Randell will take centre stage.

However, the Contender Gym fighter believes it won't be long before his name is back up in lights again after gaining valuable experience from his retirement at the end of the fifth round against Murray earlier this summer.

Blackwell, who suffered a rib injury shortly before the televised fight, said: “It wasn’t just because of that.

“He (Murray) was experienced as well and I got my weight wrong. On this next fight I’m going to get my weight right “Last time I weighed in three pounds underweight and my opponent was a stone heavier when we got in the ring, so I’ve got to get that right, but I can’t wait to fight in front of a home (Wiltshire) crowd.

“I always train really hard and every fight now is going to be really tough for me, so you’ve got to take every fight as a title fight.''

The Swindon contest will be only the 10th of Blackwell's paid career, but he continues on an upward curve despite the setback last time out and remains the English middleweight champion, creating history by becoming the youngest to win such a belt in Bath last year.“I’ve been there and done it now so I know what to expect in the future,'' he said. “I’m going to have a lot of big fights next year.

“I’ve had a lot of people coming up to me wanting to fight me, because they saw that performance I did on television, and that wasn’t even my best performance ever.

“There’s good things to come next year.''