JOE Ham is preparing for two fights in the space of a fortnight as he sets his sights on a Scottish or Celtic title shot by the turn of the year. His fellow Team Scotland member from the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Charlie Flynn, may be out of action with broken ribs, but the 25-year-old super bantamweight from the Gorbals - who has five knockouts from his eight bouts to date - has landed a prime slot on the undercard of the Ricky Burns-Kiryl Relikh show at the SSE Hydro on October 7. He will then be plunged back into action on an Alex Morrison bill at The Glasgow City Hotel on October 22 with a view to readying him for his first title attempt, to be televised on STV Glasgow, in December. This is a pivotal period for most of Scotland's Commonwealth heroes, with gold medal winner Josh Taylor also preparing for a Commonwealth title shot against Dave Ryan at the Meadowbank Arena in Edinburgh on October 21.
"I think I'm starting to get the recognition," said Ham. "I knew when I turned pro that it was a different sport altogether compared to the amateurs and I felt I was always more suited to the pros. I like to hurt people. You've got the have an attitude and if you don't have it people walk over the top of you. But I've also got to remember to defend myself because as I go up in class guys are getting better and better.
"Hopefully I get a bit of TV time to show what I can do. Everything seems to be going perfect. I'm fighting on the 7th and again on the 22nd on Alex's show. And I'm on STV Glasgow on December 18 so, hopefully I'll get a Scottish or Celtic title fight by the end of the year. That's my aim. I'm 14th in the British rankings and I need to keep picking away and eventually I'll get there.
"I made my debut in December 2014 and by the end of the year I could have had 11 or 12 fights and six a year isn't bad. But you've got to learn your trade. Ricky didn't get it handed to him straight away. He had to work his way up on all the wee shows and that's how you build a fan base."
Ham was star struck this week when he shared a platform with Ricky Hatton, one of his childhood idols, who is training and promoting Relikh. "Growing up, I loved watching Hatton's body shots and his aggressive style and that's what I like to do - to throw them like him," said the Scot. To be sitting at the top table with him is not too bad. Being in his company is another step on the way to the big time but it's just a question of taking your opportunities when they come along."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here