‘The Breakout’ (Ulster Hall, Saturday, live on DAZN from 7pm)

TWO and a half years has passed since Steven Ward last ducked through the ropes and the Monkstown man couldn’t be happier to be preparing for action once more as he gets set to trade leather with Perry Howe.

A defeat to Kamshybek Kunkabayev in Kazakhstan in December 2021 may have been predicted by many, but Ward’s performance that night was good, perhaps too good as the phone stopped ringing.

The affable North Belfast man only lost out on a technical decision to the highly-rated Kazakh after a clash of heads opened a nasty gash.

True, he had been on the floor and was well behind on the cards, but was still there and beginning to enjoy some moments. Victory was still a tall order, but the game-plan devised by coach Jamie Moore had seen him through the early storm.

Of course, he had hoped another opportunity would soon follow, but not so as he has endured an elongated period outside the ring.

“The Joe Bloggs watching may have thought I was doing nothing, but everything was going to plan,” he recalled.

“The plan was to go out and just journeyman him early and frustrate him as it was a 10-round fight and the most he’d previously gone was five, let him gas and then start turning the screw from around six.

“I could hear him gasping in the clinches from the fifth and didn’t even think the pace was that high, but he was feeling it.

“Jamie said to go and put the pressure on, which I did, but then I got cut and that was it.”

You could have been forgiven for thinking the 33-year-old had since retired as things went so quiet, but it was more a case of being frozen out than taking time out.

He continued to train and spar, waiting for the call that never came and there were a few times he saw light at the end of the tunnel only for it to be extinguished.

But he stuck with it and now he is back at the Ulster Hall on Saturday, the plan to get through this week and perhaps another routine outing to shed the rust before looking at a title shot of some sorts. He is back, but don’t call it a comeback.

“This isn’t a comeback, just a layoff and not a purposeful one either,” he stressed.

“I don’t know what happened. Everything just went quiet and that was maybe down to management and then I didn’t put in a bad performance against Kunkabayev so I became a high risk, low reward fighter.

“There was a chance I was getting on Mick’s show (Conlan-Gill in December) but DAZN came in and I suppose they swallowed up a lot of the slots with their fighters, but Jamie has me on this Ulster Hall bill and it’s great to be back.

“I’ve been in the gym flat out, my lifestyle is pretty good and I have been sparring the likes of Tommy McCarthy and a few other boys.

“There was rumours of fights so I was in the gym training properly, but they fall though and you become a bit disheartened. Finally, I’m back out on the 30th and I can’t wait.

“I just hope the people who back me before come back to support me. I know it’s not a massive fight but just having people there drives you on.”

It’s aversion to the ‘what ifs’ that helped Ward stick to it over the barren period.
Reflecting in years to come around what might have beens is not whee anyone wishes to be,  none more than a boxer.

All careers come to an end, but Ward wants his to be his call and not because he fell out of favour.

He may be ‘The Quiet Man’, but no longer the forgotten man as he returns with purpose.

“I think I can move fast and want to as I don’t just want to be in this for the sake of it. If I walked away from this sport now I’d be fuming,” he admitted.

“If I go and end up getting beaten then I’d be able to accept that as I’d know it’s over. But I genuinely feel I’ve more to give and achieve.

“I was kidding myself for a while, thinking I’d just jump straight back into a big fight but the better option is to do a six-rounder here and see how I feel.

“It might sound stupid after being out for over two years, but I actually feel like a better cruiser so I just need to get a bit of rust off. Two fights and I think I can get back in the mix, maybe a British or Commonwealth.”