Pat Barrett hates shortcuts. The Manchester based trainer builds his fighters brick by brick, drilling techniques until they become second nature. He matches his young fighters in the same way, choosing opponents who will provide them with the right tests at the right times. If they lose, they go back to the gym, practice, practice and practice some more and get right back in the ring at the earliest opportunity.

Barrett guided his fighter and cousin, Lyndon Arthur, to the IBO light heavyweight title last weekend and sees no reason to change his methods now.

“There’s plenty more to come,” Barrett told BoxingScene. “This is now about Lyndon learning the game at a different level. The IBO is a proper manufactured world title and it can open the door for many things.”

Arthur (23-1, 16 KO’s) got off the floor to stop Argentinean tough guy Braian Suarez with a tenth round body shot. ‘The King’ is promoted by Wasserman and his victory will have been witnessed by a large audience on Channel 5. There aren’t many better ways to build a star than to have their dramatic, off-the-floor title winning performance screened on free to air television. Arthur made his name with boxing fans by beating Anthony Yarde back in 2020 but terrestrial television gives him the chance to reach a whole new audience.

Barrett wants Arthur to be given time to grow in status and popularity before jumping in with the 175lb divisions top operators. 

“He needs to get more fights at this level and slowly bring him on before they look for unifications with the likes of [Dmitry] Bivol,” the former European junior welterweight said. “That’s not the way to go. Let’s defend this IBO title a few more times. Let’s get some learning fights under his belt like [Chris] Eubank did with his WBO belt years ago. Barry Hearn got him all the right fights and built him up. He defended that WBO belt about 20 times.

“Build him up on TV and let him get the following he deserves. They think they’ve got a world champion and they’re gonna do this and that. Build him. They’ve got the platform and everything it takes. Let Lyndon be a superstar and makes some money. Don’t just jump into things and go to America straight away.”