IT’S the start of an exciting new chapter for James McGivern at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on Saturday night when he makes his first appearance as a Queensberry fighter.

The Lower Ormeau man has won all nine of his professional contests to date, but his latest victory was the most important of all as it acted as something of an audition to join the Frank Warren stable and he sufficiently impressed, scoring a devastating knockout of Rashid Omar at the SSE Arena in June to retain the BUI Celtic lightweight title.

McGivern has his eyes on grander prizes and all the pieces are now in place to push on, beginning this weekend with a decent test against Facundo Arce.

The Argentine’s record of 17-16-2 may look modest, but he is far from. pushover and earlier this year, had Arcie Sharp down twice in the opening round before eventually losing on the cards having dropped to the canvas himself.

Therefore, he must be treated with respect as he will come to score the upset and although McGivern had hoped for a showdown with another undefeated fighter in Levi Smith for this one, but Arce it is and on a big stage as the card is topped by Nick Ball’s first defence of the WBA featherweight title against Ronny Rios, live on TNT.

“I was offered an English guy (Levi Smith) who is 9-0 and I wanted that as it would mean three undefeated guys in-a-row, but that didn’t happen for whatever reason,” McGivern said.

“I was a bit annoyed but it doesn’t matter who it is I fight on this show, just so long as I fight on it and get the experience of the whole fight week of a world title fight in Liverpool.

“This Argentinian has 17 wins, 16 losses and two draws, so it doesn’t look as good on paper but is still a really hard test. It’s also great to be on a big world title fight card and a big Queensberry fight week with all of the workouts, press conferences and so on.

“I need the experience of two or three of those under my belt before I can start asking to headlining back in Belfast.

“I’m happy to do all the media stuff, but it’s not something I love either so I don’t really think about all of that. “In my mind I’m just fighting and I don’t worry about who it’s against, what it’s for or how big the whole thing is, so it’s just the same as any other fight.”

Regular action is what McGivern’s career has been crying out for and for a number of reasons.

The infrequent paycheques meant he couldn’t fully throw his lot in with boxing and spend longer with former three-weight world champion Ricky Burns whom he is now training under.

Their first fight together resulted in that ‘knockout of the year’ contender and McGivern has been able to travel to the Coatbridge man for a little longer this time around.

Inactivity also meant his career has yet to gain full traction, but with the backing and guidance of Queensberry and manager Jason Quigley, it’s beginning to take shape as he looked towards a return to Belfast at some point next year.

“I have been fighting on average every six months and that’s ok if you’re ‘Canelo’ (Alvarez), but when you aren’t earning his money it’s not much good,” he acknowledged.

“I need to be fighting regularly and with Queensberry I will get that - hopefully three or four fights before next October. If you want to live the life of a professional fighter, at this stage you need to fight regularly until you are fighting for the likes of a European title.

“A trades apprenticeship is usually three years, so I’ve done four as a pro boxer and I am finally coming out the other side of it.

“Hopefully after two or three fights, there can be another show in Belfast and I can headline. I’d love the Ulster Hall as being a St George’s man, it’s a stone’s throw from where I’m from. An Inter-Continental or Commonwealth title in there would be great, but we’ll see what happens.”

That latest win made many more sit up and take notice, but was just the third stoppage win of his career.

McGivern has always been regarded as an excellent boxer with top-class skills, so adding power to his locker will make all the difference in the pro game.

Another eye-catching KO this week would do him no harm at all in terms of his profile, but victory and a good performance will do.

“Hopefully as quick as the last time or even quicker would be better,” he said of his desire to enjoy another early night.

“Queensberry have me pinned as a knockout artist after the last one, but they clearly hadn’t watch the first couple of fights I had! Who knows, maybe I am a knockout artist now - it’s only taken me four years to work it out.”