Preston boxer Scott Fitzgerald on the road to redemption as he returns to the ring this weekend

The 29-year-old takes on Frenchman Gregory Trenel on the undercard of the heavyweight contest between Dereck Chisora and Joseph Parker at the Manchester Arena.

This weekend promises to be the starting point for what he hopes will be a long road back to redemption.

Back in 2019, Fitzgerald was one of rising stars of the sport – certainly domestically – after two superb and high profile victories over Anthony Fowler and Ted Cheeseman.

His win over the latter saw him become the super-welterweight champion – and it looked like it would only be a matter of time before he would make his mark on the European and world stage.

However, since then his life has spiralled the wrong way and his boxing career certainly took a back seat as he dealt with a series of well documented issues in his pr-vate life.

Of course, the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has hindered Fitzgerald’s progress too but now he is keen to put his problems of the past behind him and rebuild his career.

He has been training solidly for the past few months and is looking forward to dusting off the cobwebs when he pulls on his gloves this weekend.

Fighting at middleweight rather than super-welterweight for the match-up against Trenel, Fitzgerald’s is keen to produce a good performance which could provide a platform for possible rematches against Fowler and Cheeseman later this year.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Fitzgerald, who will have his father Dave in his corner this weekend. “But I am really looking forward to getting back out there and hopefully getting my career back on track.

“Hopefully the fight this weekend is the first step to some really big things to come in the future. I have been working hard now for the past few months to get myself in shape and I feel great.

“The guy I am fighting this weekend, he’s a decent fighter and has been in the ring with some tough opponents.

“A couple of fights ago, he fought Sergio Garcia so he won’t be fazed this weekend.

“I think he’s won 13 of 21 fights as a professional so I will need to produce a good performance.”