After a long-winding road featuring detours in two US cities and another in Japan, Kieron Conway has finally achieved a long-held goal to become British champion. Now, he's hoping that serves as a springboard to more success at even higher levels going forward.

The Northampton man (23-3-1, 7 KOs) left empty-handed after a 12-round duel with Ted Cheeseman was scored a split draw at junior middleweight in June 2019, two years after his pro debut and five weeks after Derrick Osaze inflicted his first loss via split decision.

Wales' Gerome Warburton, whose only career blemishes before this came in Spain and a 10-round draw with Ryan Kelly last year, only had two winning records on his resume to illuminate his 15-1-2 record.

It's part of the reason why there's a pragmatic tone in the new champion's voice as he speaks and evaluates his display, a bruising fourth-round finish on the Johnny Fisher-Dave Allen II undercard on May 17.

"My performance was pretty spot on, knew exactly what I had to do and what Gerome would bring," he told The Ring.

"Everything went to a t and after the third round, I thought it was time to step on the gas and get him outta there, that's exactly what I did. It feels good to get a finish but not as exciting when I knew what would happen.

"His hands were very tight to his head, I just had to keep hitting them, slip down to the body before taking him out - it was just confirmation of what we worked on beforehand."

Since Nick Blackwell made history as the youngest-ever divisional titleholder after a 7th-round stoppage of John Ryder in May 2015, there had been eight different titleholders at 160-pounds. Conway, who flickered between weights as recently as 2021, made it nine.

"That's the sweet bit. It's been a long time coming and I've bypassed it a few times, taken step aside deals to do other things. I've boxed in Texas, Vegas, Japan and it was time to take this belt home to Northampton."

Conway dropped then 12-0 pro Souleymane Cissokho late, but hadn't done enough work early to swing the cards and lost a spirited 10-round decision on the Canelo Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders undercard in May 2021.

16 months later he was on another bill headlined by current undisputed super middleweight champion Alvarez, dropped in the penultimate round en route to a 10-round decision defeat by Austin 'Ammo' Williams.

Cissokho (18-0, 9 KOs) has since moved down and is the WBC's No. 2-ranked welterweight, while Matchroom-backed Williams (18-1, 12 KOs) will face Italy's unbeaten Etinosa Oliha (21-0, 9 KOs) next weekend in an IBF title eliminator to decide the number one contender.

When you put it plainly, Conway has surrounded himself around quality opposition and it's natural he wants a return to the elite level after acquitting himself admirably in defeat.

"Those experiences are priceless because yes, I fell short at world level twice but after getting a taste of it, you need to go back. I have to get back there, so the whole motivation is this now. That desire doesn't discredit this win, the British middleweight title has always been historic for many fighters - me aswell - but yeah, I know what I want now."

So, not a British title defence against mandatory challenger George Liddard then?  

"Look, his name keeps popping up but for me, that's slightly disrespectful and a step in the wrong direction. He's young and upcoming but chasing me. Whoever gets put in-front of me is where my focus will be. I'm next in line for the EBU European title and that's a huge belt, I'll speak to the team and see what's next." 

When these comments are put to Team Liddard, there's a mutual understanding of the situation and no ill-will towards a former sparring partner.

"Kieron is very experienced, he's holding the British title right now so there's nothing personal towards him, George just wants to fight for the belt," Liddard's head trainer Tony Sims told The Ring.

"They've sparred a few times so know each other well from those sessions, obviously it's difficult in an actual fight but let's see if they agree to make it, British honours is what George wants."

Liddard meanwhile accepted that Conway, having experienced big nights stateside, is eager to return to world level and wants him to relinquish the belt as many others have if he'd prefer pursuing the European title route now.

"Everything is all up in the air at the minute, he obviously wants and I completely understand the thinking behind the European title - just don't slow my progress and get in my way. I'm up for fighting anyone, so whether he vacates or we get the fight on, I want that. Denzel's not going to fight him is he? He's waiting for another title shot, rightly so."

Three-time British champion Denzel Bentley (21-3-1, 17 KOs) has been steadfast in his pursuit of a Janibek Alimkhanuly rematch, as the WBO's No. 1-ranked contender.

There's no update on a return timeline for the unbeaten WBO and IBF champion, though his manager Egis Klimas told The Ring they hoped he'd be back out again by summer's end after his 5th-round stoppage win against challenger Anauel Ngamissengue on April 5.

Bentley, who outpointed former British titleholder Brad Pauls on December 7, won the EBU title vacated by Hamzah Sheeraz that night. He was recently ordered to defend that belt against Conway by the EBU, with the deadline to agree terms between both camps set for midday BST today before purse bids. Multiple sources told The Ring there were exploratory talks, though both are handled by different promoters and will likely pivot elsewhere.

"Last month British and Commonwealth champion, Europe next?" is what Conway posted on Instagram two weeks ago, tagging his promoter and manager to make public a desire to fight for the belt at some stage soon - whether Bentley relinquishes or not.

They've been linked with a potential fight dating back to early 2023, though the 29-year-old wants to make the most of his momentum now and hopes Matchroom will manoeuvre him favourably as they have done previously - even if there's a young gun angling for his spot.

"I want to be back by the end of summer, August or September, it'd be good to be active, having two a year isn't great, I'd like three ideally but when your first one is in May.... it's been a while yeah. I'll enjoy some time with my daughter and then go back to business."

After celebrating his daughter Ophelia's first birthday, he has stuck true to his word. This week, he's already posted videos on the running track training alongside welterweight gymmate Eithan James (13-2), as the wait for clarity rumbles on.