LUKE Blackledge will walk out on the pitch at his beloved Blackburn Rovers tomorrow, ready to continue his journey back into the upper echelons of boxing at King George’s Hall next month.

Blackledge had a frustrating 2013 as he lost his unbeaten record to Swede Erik Skoglund in Denmark, then suffered a first round stoppage to Rocky Fielding as he challenged for the Commonwealth super middleweight title.

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The 24-year-old took both fights at just a few days’ notice and says that is the reason why he recently turned down a late call to take on the talented Andre Dirrell – a former opponent of Carl Froch – in America.

But Blackledge has had three successive victories since then, defeating Ghanaian Philip Kotey for the WBC international silver belt in September.

That fight took place at King George’s Hall, in the first professional boxing card to take place in Blackburn for decades.

Another night of boxing will now take place at the venue on November 22, when Blackledge is due to defend his title against an as yet unconfirmed opponent.

Fellow East Lancashire fighters Qasim Niaz, Adam Machaj and Shakeeb Ali are also pencilled in to feature on the bill.

Blackledge is set to be introduced to the crowd at Ewood Park tomorrow at half time of Rovers’ home match against Reading, before a potential trip to meet the squad at Brockhall in the coming days.

“I’m boxing in Blackburn and I’m a Blackburn fan so I’d love to get them all behind me and supporting me,” Blackledge said.

“I go to matches with the lads when I’m not in training.

“I know a few of the players like David Dunn.

“He has always supported me and has watched me fight a few times, so it will be good to go down and meet all the team.”

Blackledge, who recently earned compliments from his former sparring partner Froch, believes the WBC international silver title will give him a springboard to move into contention for other belts.

“Winning that title has got me in the WBC world rankings,” he said.

“I’m in the top 40 in the world and the top 10 in the UK, so everything is going well.

“If I defend it and keep creeping up the rankings, in the future it will get me a world title shot or it moves me on to the British scene.

“I had a chance to fight Andre Dirrell but he’s too experienced.

“He’s world class, he fought Carl Froch and it was a 50/50 fight.

“It was a just a bit too much.

“He has the name and the money was half decent, but it’s not worth me taking that at three weeks’ notice.

“Let’s see if they offer it to me in three years when I’m ready for it.

“If they’d given me maybe two months then I could have considered it, but I couldn’t have got fit and trained for a world class opponent in three weeks. I’ve made mistakes in the past, I’ve taken fights at a couple of days’ notice and I won’t be making that mistake again.

“That’s why I knocked it back.”

With youth still on his side, Blackledge knows patience is the key in his progress.

“I think I might have rushed it before, jumping in and fighting Rocky Fielding for the Commonweath, I basically skipped all of the titles,” he said.

“But I’ve come back and won three or four fights since then, and I’ve won a major title.

“I feel confident that I’m back on a winning roll.”