It is five years since Steven Cairns first arrived at Dave Coldwell's gym in England with a host of amateur accolades and a ton of natural ability.

Cairns' skill and flair will have been obvious from the moment he began shadow boxing and working the bags but the experienced Coldwell wasted little time finding out whether the young Irishman had the steel and desire to become a successful professional.

Cairns passed the test. The heavy handed 23-year-old Cork lightweight has since racked up 13 consecutive wins and is widely regarded as one of Europe's top prospects.

"I was 18. I wasn't training with Dave at the time. I said, "Dave, can I get some sparring with you?" He said, 'Yes, no problem. Come over,'" Cairns (13-0, 8 KOs) told The Ring.

"I just rocked up to the gym and the first day I'm in sparring with Sultan Zaurbek [the world ranked junior lightweight]. Then sparring Jordan Gill, who's been the European champion, then Hopey Price, so I've always gotten good rounds ever since I was young.

"The experience that you might lack in the fight situation, you get in sparring. When I'm in fights now I feel relaxed, like I'm ready to take that step up."

Cairns and Coldwell plan on crossing the Atlantic to get some work out in Las Vegas and continue his education but 2026 will be the year when he sees serious action under the lights on fight night.

Cairns has already earned the respect of those seeing him work in the gym or plying his trade on undercards around the country and has successfully built a large fanbase on social media but the time has come to show a wider audience what he is capable of.

On March 14 he gets that chance when he returns home to Ireland, boxing on the undercard of the WBA junior lightweight title fight between Jazza Dickens and Anthony Cacace. Queensberry's show will be broadcast live and exclusively on DAZN from Dublin's 3Arena.

Cairns doesn’t yet have a name to focus on but knows he will be stepping up to the championship distance, fighting someone as determined to win as he is.

"This is the year when people start taking real notice," he said.

"Obviously I've been a little bit under wraps through boxing. I’ve been promoting myself online but this year I know is when I step up into title fights, people are going to start knowing my name," he said.

"It's obviously the next step in the career is the fights that get the fans excited. Obviously at the start when you're doing your apprenticeship, you're learning, you're coming through.

"These are all steps you have to take because you can't go from zero to 100 but now I feel like I'm ready to go, ready to be left off that leash. Starting in March, I'm going to be fighting for my first title."