JACK Flatley admits he is relieved to have a title chance on the big stage so soon after seeing his last one ruined by injury.

Farnworth’s ‘Quiet Storm’ was due to face Anthony Fowler at the Manchester Arena in March only for a stress fracture of his right foot to rule him out in the week of the fight.

Now fully fit and with boxing getting back into its groove amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the former English super-welterweight champion gets the chance to lift the Commonwealth title when he challenges unbeaten champion JJ Metcalf on October 10.

Flatley will be the underdog against the Liverpudlian, dubbed ‘Kid Shamrock’, who has 13 knockouts in 21 victories.

But the Elite Boxing fighter is relishing the chance to get his hands on a major title having won the English belt in a thriller against Craig Morris at the Bolton Whites Hotel back in May 2019.

“I didn’t know what to expect after I got injured,” said the 25-year-old, who has lost just once in 18 fights as a professional. “This has come up pretty much straight away though and when we were offered it we accepted it right away.

“I’ve kept on it during lockdown and I knew I’d get another chance at something but I wasn’t expecting for it to be for the Commonwealth title.

“When I started boxing I always said to myself I wanted to win a major domestic title and my chance is here now.

“I’ve got to take it with both hands.”

The fight on the Frank Warren-promoted show will be behind closed doors at BT Sport studio in Stratford with Flatley having to enter a bio-secure bubble and be Covid-19 tested a few days beforehand.

He is confident he will head into battle firing though after using lockdown in part to rehab his foot problem.

“It was a stress fracture so I’d just been doing too much impact on my feet,” the Alex Matvienko-trained fighter said.

“It took a good two or three months for it to heal to the point where I could train.

“Since then it’s been fine though.

“We thought about getting an injection of something to get me through the Fowler fight but I went for a scan and the doctor advised me not to fight.

“By the time I’d done my warm up it might have worn off anyway.

“I would still have been getting in the ring in a lot of pain and when you’re fighting someone like Anthony Fowler you can’t just be a sitting duck in there.

“For this one I’m training harder than I’ve ever trained in my life.

“I’m getting good sparring and doing everything I can to come home with that title.”