Sometimes, the most eye-catching performances aren’t necessarily the most spectacular.

In December, Sam Hickey notched up his fourth victory with a calm dismantling of Aljaz Venko. The 26-year-old Scotsman dropped the Slovenian middleweight twice and coasted to a six-round decision.

Any other result would have been a massive shock but Venko is the type of journeyman who knows how to stay safe and has pinched rounds from other prospects.

Hickey isn’t a normal prospect, however. The 2022 Commonwealth gold medallist spent years in the Team GB set up and appears to have the ideal attitude and style for professional fighting.

Hickey hasn’t been as active as other young fighters and is desperate for ring time. Rather than trying to blow Venko away, he took his time and clearly worked through the things he has drilled thousands of times with his trainer, Rob McCracken.

Every round had an aim and every punch had an intention.

“I think as a fighter, I'm quite patient,” he told The Ring.

“I see loads of fighters when they turn pro and they just look like they're rushing everything and trying to get the guy out of there and I don't think they look good. It doesn't really matter to me if you get the stoppage. I see people get stoppages and I think, 'He’s no good' because when he steps up he's not going to be able to jump on a guy like that.

“Rob has said to me a few times that boxing is like when you're trying to break a wall down. You're not just going to smack through the middle of the wall. You’ve got to get bricks out the sides, bricks out the bottom, you've got to break the wall down smartly. You can't just go right through the middle because then the wall will fall on you.”

Hickey fights under the Boxxer banner and, so far, has boxed solely in England.

His eventual aim is to follow in the footsteps of Scottish greats like three-weight world champion, Ricky Burns, and former undisputed junior welterweight title holder, Josh Taylor, and attract a large, passionate fanbase.

A homecoming showcase in Dundee would be an easy sell but with fight dates harder to come by than ever he knows that when he does return home, he needs to do so in the type of fight that will capture the public’s attention, keep the fans invested and make a quick return to Scotland an attractive, lucrative option for his promoters.

“I think a lot of the time it's more about the pressure from the public because maybe you're not fighting the opponents that they want to see,” he said.

“I just feel like boxing is not how it used to be years ago where you've seen guys coming off the Olympics and they would headline in their first fight against an absolute tomato can. I don't think it's like that anymore. If you're going to headline you need to be fighting the right opponent and I understand that because when you come from being such a high level amateur, I feel like you need to be fighting good opponents.

“When I do fight back home, I don't be expecting to fight a slouch. I think it's going to be good fight for me.”