Jazza Dickens reignited his career by outpointing Zelfa Barrett at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena two weeks ago and they way he did it brought back memories of the very earliest stages of his professional career.

In 2011, Dickens, 35-5 (14 KOs), turned over as a talented but relatively unknown super bantamweight and immediately looked destined for bigger things.

The Liverpudlian never stood directly in front of his opponents and boxed with the type of flair and imagination that stands out on small hall undercards. He was also ferociously dedicated.

That commitment to the sport remains as strong as ever but, over the few years, Dickens slowly lost the in and out, side to side footwork he honed during his days training with Kevin Smith at Liverpool’s famous Salisbury and Golden Gloves amateur gyms.

The 33 year-old has still enjoyed a very successful career but found himself in the wilderness after being stopped in the tenth round of an IBO featherweight title defence against Hector Sosa in July 2023.

After facing a brutal battle just to make weight for the fight with Sosa, Dickens moved up to super featherweight and recorded two low key wins whilst he waited and prayed for a big chance to present itself.

Finally, it arrived. In mid-February, Dickens was matched with the world ranked Barrett on the undercard of Jack Catterall’s WBO interim junior welterweight title fight with Arnold Barboza Jnr.

Just a few weeks before the fight and without a trainer after leaving Joe McNally’s gym in Liverpool, Dickens made the move to Dubai and linked up with former pro, Albert Ayrapetyan. Although they only spent a few short weeks working together properly, the Georgian trainer managed to unlock that old movement.

Dickens produced his best performance for years, outboxing Barrett and recording a wide decision victory to bring himself back to prominence.

For Jazza Dickens completists, the performance brought back welcome memories of the Scouse southpaw’s eye catching early professional outings against the likes of James Ancliff, Yanis Puksins and Yuriy Voronin.

“The first few years of my professional career, the footwork that I had with Kevin Smith spilled over and if you're not working on certain drills as a fighter, over time - because you're not maintaining the fundamentals - they sort of went,” he told The Ring.

“That was the reason why I went to Peter Taylor after Georgie Vaughan [his previous trainer], to get the footwork back. And then Albert has tried to instil those same fundamentals. That’s the idea, I need to get back with Albert, because I know when I'm best and when I’m best.

“Sometimes, opportunities lead you to places because you sort of follow where the success is. I lost that fight for the IBO and everyone thought I was done but, for me, it was just about going back to the basics and the drawing board.

“On the flip side of the negativity, I had a good chance to start again and I went with Albert because I knew it would be best for my boxing more than anything else.

“There was a bit of that being the style for me but there was also a bit of that being the style for me to beat Zelfa. I wasn’t too sure how I was gonna go about it. Was I gonna be super aggressive or box that way? Super composed in terms of bringing him on or super aggressive like how Kiko Martinez and Costin Ion boxed him because there were two ways I could have done it. I don’t think many people thought I could have outboxed him the way I did.”

Dickens is now focused on securing another world title shot and in his dressing room after the fight, he dropped the name of former WBA featherweight champion, Raymond Ford, as a potential future opponent. The American made his own way up to 130lbs after losing his WBA featherweight title to Dickens’ fellow Liverpudlian, Nick Ball last June.

Ford is ranked by all four governing bodies but - most importantly to Dickens - is positioned at number six by the WBA. Dickens win over Barrett saw him move to number seven.

The winner of a fight between the two would have strong claims to a shot at the title currently held by Lamont Roach, although given the way Roach performed in his majority draw with WBA lightweight champion, Gervonta Davis, last weekend the 29 year-old may choose to pursue further opportunities at 135lbs.

Two weeks have passed since the fight with Barrett and, for the time being, the trail appears to have gone cold on the fight. Dickens is still more than open to the idea but believes that he disrupted plans for a proposed fight between Ford and Barrett and that all parties are currently considering all options.

“Ray Ford? The last I heard was that it was dead in the water, that's gone. I don't know why, but I don't think Matchroom is interested in a Ray Ford fight, I think they was with Zelfa but not for me so we're yet to see, we're just waiting. I’ve spoken to Frank Smith [of Matchroom] and he said he’d get back to me,” he said.

“I did tip the apple cart and they already had a deal done in principle and I think that now it's off the table, so it's back to the drawing boards. I wouldn't say that the fight's not going to happen but I would just say that, short term, the plans got messed up.”

After a brief period of time wondering in which direction his career would go, beating Barrett has provided Dickens with a sense of security but he isn’t going to start looking for the easy option now. As long as it makes sense and moves him closer to that title shot, Dickens is open to any idea.

“Yeah, yeah, 100% if it makes sense, then it has to be a team decision,” he said. “I am contracted to two fight with Matchroom and it will be a team decision with myself, Lee Eaton [his manager] and Matchroom too.”