TRAINER Jamie Moore hopes to see Oldham prospect Aqib Fiaz in the hunt for titles by the end of the year.

The 20-year-old moved to 5-0 with a four-round points victory over Dean Jones on Saturday night on the undercard of Jono Carroll’s win over Scott Quigg at the Manchester Arena.

All of Fiaz’s fights have gone the distance but former British and European light-middleweight champion Moore believes that record is deceptive.

Highly rated by many – including gym-mate Carl Frampton – the former Waterhead Academy student is being positioned for big things.

“His style is more suited to longer fights,” said Moore, based at the VIP Gym in Astley.  

“We’ll have to match him carefully and make sure we develop him at the right pace but I’d rather him be doing longer fights sooner rather than later.

“By the end of the year I’d like him to be boxing for the Central Area title over 10 rounds.

“He’s definitely good enough and the sooner he starts doing 10 rounds the sooner he learns about navigating them, when he can have a round off and pacing it better.

“There’s no rush with him but I think you’ll see a more polished performance and a few more stoppages with longer fights and more rounds and it will look more impressive.”

Moore was happy with what he saw against the durable Jones as Fiaz made his Manchester Arena debut, featuring on a major Eddie Hearn card.

“It was a good solid, performance,” he said.

“Obviously he’s still progressing but education wise it was a solid four rounds under his belt.

“His tempo was nice, his shot selection was good and the guy gave him a few things to think about and he maybe switched off a little bit and neglected his defence because he knew he couldn’t hurt him.

“As time goes on he’ll have to fix that because he can’t make those mistakes. In terms of progression he’s coming on in leaps and bounds.

“He’s definitely one to watch for the future.”