Journeyman Seamus Devlin hails ex-England champion Shayne Singleton's return to boxing: "That has been a God-send, he's had a massive impact since coming to the gym!"

The ex-WBC International Silver champion teamed up with Curtis Gargano's group of well-travelled gladiators at Darren Stubbs’ base in Oldham after having his professional licence granted by the British Boxing Board of Control.

And the 32-year-old's presence in the gym, with the knowledge and know-how he's able to share in the classroom, has already started to rub off on his nomadic colleagues.

Devlin picked up the first win of his fast-moving tenure at the 20th attempt, when getting the decision over Navid Iran at Circus Tavern in Purfleet a month ago, with Richard Helm and Dean Wilkinson also breaking their ducks with successes over Redwan Nishat and Billy Allen respectively.

"I'm training alongside people like Mark Heffron and Shayne Singleton, which has made me go up levels," he said.

"That has been a God-send, he's had a massive impact since coming to the gym. He's been at the gym for six or seven weeks and Curtis [Gurgano] has already created a bit of history (for himself). We got three wins in one weekend, which doesn't happen a lot on the road."

He added: "Some of the lads, like Heffron and Tom Rafferty, we might only spar a month at a time, but Shayne is part of the stable now so we're sparring him regularly.

"It's benefitting all the lads; I just stand and watch him and then when I'm with him I'll try and implement what I've just seen. I'll work on it on a bag then I'll try and use it in the rounds against him. It's helped massively."

The durable journeyman — who goes by the moniker "The Celtic Cobra" — is as tough as old boots. He may only have won once in his 21 contests during the past eight months, but he's gone the distance in each and every one of them.

After losing out to debutant Kyle Boyd and Italian "Magician" Luca Micheletti earlier in the month, he'll face unbeaten Niall Brown at Victoria Warehouse in Manchester on Saturday.

"I've invested in myself a lot more this year, I've put a lot of time in," he said. "Last year I was just happy getting through, getting fights in and going the distance, but now I'm getting results.

"I'm training smarter, not just harder, I'm getting massages for recovery, hydrotherapy and I'm learning from the best. Curtis has been a coach, a manager and a mentor.

"His words resound in my head, even when he's not there. That's what you want; he's guiding me and I'm learning lessons by physically experiencing things.

"If you want to be a successful journeyman then having good management helps. I've got the best management you can get. It's unbelievable. It's about going out there and having the confidence to perform and do what I'm trained to do. Curtis has done a fantastic job. I'll get more wins this year, it's inevitable."