GREENOCK boxer Frankie Monkhouse is back on track after victory in his comeback fight — and is now focused on fulfilling a lifelong dream of competing in his home town next month.

The 30-year-old brushed aside Englishman Liam Griffiths in London at the weekend, winning comfortably on points in a four-round contest.

But Frankie, who recently moved back to Inverclyde and is living in Port Glasgow with his wife, admits the fight was unusual — because he couldn’t stop thinking about being in the ring in Greenock Town Hall on Friday 15 May.

He is part of a bumper line-up alongside John Simpson, Sam Ball and Grant Quigley in what is thought to be the first professional show of its kind in Inverclyde for more than 40 years.

And the Greenock man can’t wait to take part.

Frankie said: “It’s good to be back winning again.

“The drive was as hard as the fight — about nine hours in the car back home was murder!

“But it was a hard fight and just sets me up nicely for the town hall show.

“It was a weird situation, you should never be looking past a fight.

“But I’ve never boxed as a pro in Scotland, so it’s great that Colin Bellshaw and the guys are putting on a show in Greenock and I’ll be part of it, especially since I’m not signed to them. They had no need to put me on the show, so that was good of them to do that.

“I’m excited about it — I can’t wait. Before I was nervous but the benefit of getting this win in London has helped and now I’m fully focused and looking to show people how much I’ve learned in London.” Frankie won all four rounds, and says it was a good confidence booster after coming close to hanging up his gloves a year ago following a shock defeat at the hands of Latvian Ivans Levickis. He now hopes to put together a string of wins over the coming months — starting in Greenock.

He said: “It’s less than four weeks now til the show in the town hall.

“I didn’t want that to be my first fight back. I’m glad I went back down to London to get a win and get my confidence up and a bit of sharpness, which means people back home will see the best of me on the night.

“It was a hard fight although I came away with no marks. “My opponent was a southpaw and that was the first time I’d fought a southpaw so it took a while to get used to him and it was only four rounds so I didn’t have the luxury of time.

“He was awkward with long arms tying me up.

“I just had to go back to basics and attack him and I won comfortably on points.

“He said I hurt him a few times as well and I thought I did early on but I didn’t want to go in and stop him, I wanted to get the rounds in.”