This time last year, Mark Chamberlain was flying high.

The 26 year-old southpaw had become a staple on high profile Riyadh Season shows and a string of impressive finishes saw him steadily working his way up the lightweight world rankings.

That momentum came to a shuddering halt at Wembley Stadium last September when Chamberlain suffered a shock decision loss to the unheralded Josh Padley. The defeat proved to be the catalyst for a move up to the junior welterweight division.

Had Chamberlain, 17-1 (12 KOs), got past Padley, the decision on which weight his immediate future lay at would have been a much more difficult one to make.

It wasn’t to be and the ringside judges made up Chamberlain’s mind for him.

Chamberlain is a big man and rather than building himself up to the junior welterweight division, he will still need to work hard to get down to 140lbs. Not having to lose those last five brutal pounds could well provide Chamberlain with a new lease of life, however.

He had his first run out at his new weight last weekend and boxed his way to an eight round shut out over Argentina’s Miguel Scaringi.

“It was just an off night, literally an off night and there was no one to blame other than myself. I didn't turn up and I paid the price, simple as that,” Chamberlain told The Ring about the fight with Padley before talking about the decision to step up.

“I’m just looking forward to getting involved in this mix.

“The last three or four fights we were debating whether to go up or not and then obviously the opportunities kept getting thrown at me at 135lbs so we stuck it out there. You've got to think of your health over anything else so I believe the time was right for me to move up when I did and I'm looking forward to it.”

On Saturday night, Chamberlain got his work done and then took his seat to watch two potential rivals rack up important wins.

Firstly, Khalil Majid, 15-0 (4 KOs), outpointed the tough and previously undefeated Alex Murphy and then British and Commonwealth champion, Jack Rafferty, 26-0 (17 KOs), continued his outstanding run of form by bullying talented southpaw, Corey O‘Regan, to a fifth round defeat.

If that wasn’t enough, the heavy handed Pierce O’Leary, 16-0 (9 KOs), was in attendance. It is believed hat the Irishman will fight for the vacant European title on the undercard of the heavyweight fight between Fabio Wardley and Jarrell Miller on June 7th.

Chamberlain’s run of exciting knockouts before the shock defeat to Padley will get him another chance and he is determined to prove himself.

“The 140lb division is booming. There’s some big names in there and I want a piece of it,” he said.

“Them names are up there and I truly believe I’ve got the capability to be mixing with them so when the time comes, yeah, why not?”

“I mean I've definitely been performing better in the gym, feeling better in myself and my performance so yeah I think 140lbs is where I'm at for the minute and we'll see what happens.”