Daniel Herdman is confident there will be no repeat of his nightmare professional debut when he has his third paid fight at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Friday, April 4th.

The Stevenage boxer is part of the undercard to Jonathan Thaxton's fight against European lightweight champion Yuri Romanov.

Herdman, 23, made his professional debut in October but things did not go according to plan and he lost on points after four rounds to Latvian Gatis Skuja at the York Hall.

He has since beaten Ben Hudson on points in February.

He said: "All the nerves got to me with it being my pro debut and a big occasion, plus I hurt my hand during the fight which didn't help.

"Everything got to me and I didn't do myself any justice. But I felt a lot more relaxed for the next one and I feel nothing can stop me now, there won't be any nerves.

"I know what I'm going in there for now and I know what to expect. Bernard Hopkins lost his first fight, and he went on to be a world middleweight champion for years.

"I've been training in Tenerife for this fight. I went over there as a holiday, but when I learnt I had a fight coming up I started running up the mountains there and training in a gym.

"I want to keep getting out this year and keep making progress."

More news from SportingLife.com