LIAM Richards says that he won’t be leaving the gym again until it’s time for him to step into the ring for his next fight, after the Melksham fighter suffered his second professional defeat in his ambitious shot at the English super-bantamweight title.

The 25-year-old was outpointed by Norfolk’s Ryan Walsh at London’s iconic York Hall last Friday, enduring his first loss since his first bid for the British Masters featherweight title against Chris Male in June last year.

Richards, who trains at the Contender Gym in Trowbridge, is looking to bounce back by winning the Southern Area super-featherweight title against Jamie Speight at Chippenham’s Olympiad Leisure Centre on December 3 and says that he’s already put the lessons learned from his second defeat into practice.

“As soon as I got to the third round, I could feel that my power wasn’t there because of my weight loss,” said Richards.

“I’m not going to hide behind that though because the kid was a good fighter and he probably had more boxing skill than I do.

“I’d had about four weeks of solid training before the fight but I think I’ve learned that I need to be in the gym every day – it’s a professional sport and you have to act professionally.

“I’m not going to leave the gym until my next fight now and that’s the hardest lesson I’ve learned. If you can learn your lessons, then defeat doesn’t have to be a negative thing.”

Richards was cheered on by a contingent of travelling fans and says that the local support he has received has spurred him on to return to the ring as a better fighter.

“Anyone that knows me knows that I hate losing – even if it’s a game of FIFA on the Playstation 3,” said the Melksham fighter.

“I was a bit sheepish for a few days after the fight and didn’t want to show my face but I’ve had so many messages praising me and when people stop to shake your hand in the street, it’s a great feeling.

“There were 200 fans cheering for Walsh but I watched the fight back on TV afterwards and you could still hear my name being cheered, even though there were four times as many as them.”