Steve Maylett believes that his latest crop of fighters are ready to start collecting titles.

The Manchester-based trainer guided his friend, Terry Flanagan, all the way from the very bottom of the sport to the WBO lightweight title and since Flanagan decided to call time on his career, Maylett has quietly built a tight, talented stable of championship level fighters. 

The exciting Jack Rafferty, 22-0 (13 KOs), is the current Commonwealth super lightweight champion and will enter a high profile British 140lbs title mix later this year. Liam Taylor, 27-2-1 (14 KOs), is awaiting a date for his mandatory shot at Harry Scarff’s British welterweight title and Tom Rafferty, 11-0 (3 KOs), is an unbeaten middleweight closing in on an area title shot. 

The next fighter from the gym to see title action will be Zak Miller, 13-1 (3 KOs). Last November, the featherweight pushed British and Commonwealth champion Nathaniel Collins all the way before losing a close majority decision. Miller was back in training the week after the fight and returns on June 1 when he boxes the unbeaten Lewis Frimpong for the vacant English title. 

“Zak just fell short but Nathaniel Collins is a great champion. I was really happy that Zak pushed him close. It could have gone either way on the night but it didn’t go ours,” Maylett told BoxingScene. “We could have come back in a little tick-over fight but Zak spoke to his manager, Kevin Maree, and said that he wants to be in title fights and wants his name in with all the promoters so that they know they can give him a ring on short notice and he’ll be there. He’s always in the gym and it’s a credit to him that he’ll always be ready when the phone goes.

“We're in Oldham on June 1 fighting an unbeaten kid in Lewis Frimpong for the English title, which is a great title and one where if Zak wins, he’ll definitely be better off the next time he fights for the British title.”

The dedicated Miller has developed into a much more well-rounded fighter than the jack in the box who arrived at The Finest Gym five years ago. Maylett’s fighters are renowned for their preparation and fitness but – having never boxed anybody with a winning record and never having ventured beyond eight rounds – nobody could be sure about how he would react once the first bell rang. 

Miller will have learned plenty about himself from the whole occasion and after seeing how his fighter dealt with the training and the pre-fight build up and the way he listened during 12 hard rounds with a quality champion, Maylett now believes that he has what it takes to become British champion in the not too distant future. 

“It’s just having the confidence. We believed in Zak and his ability but you have to prove it to yourself and your team that you can do it under the lights and – to be honest – he thrived on it,” Maylett said. “He probably out-performed what we thought he was gonna do. We know he can box but he got stuck in as well and he won some of the rounds on the front foot having a tear up. That’s not really Zak’s nature but he pushed himself because he wanted the win so bad. The confidence it’s given him has proved to us all that he’s definitely capable of winning the British and Commonwealth titles and being the number one domestic fighter.”