21-0! Connor Coyle wants a world title shot sooner rather than later!

21-0 Connor Coyle does not want to waste any more time as he aims to step into the ring for a World title fight sooner rather than later.

The 34-year-old stepped into the ring for the first time in a year on Saturday night, where he earned a points victory over Kyle Lomotey at Oakwell Football Ground in Barnsley in what was his UK debut.

Coyle has been left frustrated since defeating Joey Bryant last summer with a number of opportunities slipping away from him.

In January he signed on to fight recent 5 v 5 participant and Matchroom-promoted Texan Ammo Williams in a WBA world title eliminator at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on the undercard of Conor Benn’s clash with Peter Dobson. But with the fight looming, injury ruled Coyle out.

Prior to that he saw a Felix Cash fight fall through in heartbreaking fashion. The Derry Middleweight was meant to fight on the undercard of Benn versus Chris Eubank Jr before that card was controversially pulled on fight week, leaving Coyle in limbo.

The Derry man could yet challenge the winner of next month’s showdown between Erislandy Lara and former multi-world title holder Danny Garcia on September 14th in Las Vegas, but he had to make sure there were no slip ups in Barnsley on a fight he took at short notice.

With members of his family in attendance, Coyle used the early rounds to shake off the rust. Once he got going it was full speed ahead with the jab and hard shots to the body against an opponent who was disciplined, technical and sturdy.

Coyle fought well off the front foot landing the straight right hand over the low southpaw jab of Lomotey. Coyle picked up the pace in the final rounds and had his opponent shaken with a left hand over the top which connected with Lomotey's head and saw his legs wobble in the penultimate round.

It was a deserved if not emphatic win for Coyle, whose frustration has become more apparent about securing a fight of note. With this fight televised live on Sky Sports, he and coach Jim McLoughlin both used this opportunity to remind the boxing world of their ambitions.

"I definitely enjoyed it," Coyle said afterwards. "I was excited to make my UK debut and what a phenomenal place to have my first fight here in the UK, Barnsley Stadium, so thank you very much to the people who showed up and showed absolutely amazing support.

"I definitely felt having the year off that there was some ring rust. I found it hard to find my distance, but hats off to Kyle, he's a very good mover and his footwork was excellent. When I wanted to land those big shots, he was able to get turned and he moved away. A year out, I felt a little bit rusty' I thought I was good in the gym but you need to be fighting regularly."

"This fight I was able to shake the rust off. We have had the best sparring over in Florida this year, so I know I'm going to have the best rounds of sparring and I'll just continue my training now until we get the call for that World title fight."

McLoughlin was direct when asked about the next step for his boxer.

"We would like to fight Lara for the World title," he stated. "This fight here having been off for over a year, that's rough. The rough showed a little, but he was a very awkward opponent, running, holding, so we're ready to fight Lara - whatever they want to do, we're ready to do."