JOE Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton, Naseem Hamed, Nigel Benn, Amir Khan. Frank Warren guided them all to the top, so it was not without significance when he named Chorley’s Jack Catterall as his British Prospect of the Year.

With an extensive list of boxers under his management, Warren was not short of options when he pondered the winner of the award.

Catterall is only 10 months into a promotional deal with Warren, but the 21-year-old has done enough in that period to suggest that there could be big things to come in 2015 and beyond.

The light welterweight knocked out the captain of the illustrious Great Britain 2012 Olympic boxing team, Tom Stalker, to win the WBO European title in his last fight in Liverpool in October.

He will return to the Echo Arena on March 6 for his next bout, again to be shown live on BoxNation, determined to repay the faith that Warren has shown in him.

“Frank has been fantastic for me,” Catterall said.

“He has given me a brilliant platform with the TV and the big shows.

“He’s brought through some great boxers, Amir Khan, Ricky Hatton, Prince Naseem Hamed, he’s developed a lot of fighters so he’s the one to do it.

“I heard that he’d chosen me as his prospect of the year and it just makes me want to work even harder and keep stepping up.”

Catterall secured the European title in only his 10th professional fight, having made his debut in September 2012.

It looked for a while that the opportunity to fight Stalker had gone, only for a late change of plans.

“I got the phone call four weeks beforehand that the fight was on,” he said.

“Tom was well known from the amateurs so that win has really raised my profile.

“It was a really good year for me.

“At the start of 2014 I just wanted to be in a position to fight for titles by the end of the year.

“I had four fights, won all four and the last two were title fights.

“I’d been told when I was fighting Nathan Brough (for the Central Area title) that the winner would get to fight for the European title.

“But to win that title, I was over the moon.”

Catterall does not need long to think when asked which boxer he grew up idolising.

“Mike Tyson,” he said. “I watched all of his fights. It was the excitement, he was so ferocious.

“But I don’t try to be like any other fighter, I have to be able to adapt to whichever fighter I face.”

Catterall headed to the United States in the summer for a training camp in Miami ahead of his fight with Brough.

The opportunity to travel there came via Argenis Mendez, the former IBF world super featherweight champion from the Dominican Republic who often trains alongside Catterall in Stockport under trainer Lee Beard.

Beard previously worked with both Ricky Hatton and his younger brother Matthew.

“I’ve been working with Lee for three years now and he’s been great ” Catterall said.

“I will be training in this country for my next fight but hopefully I will get the chance to train in Miami again at some point.

“One of my stablemates was fighting over there so I got the chance to go over there. I went to different gyms and there were people from Detroit, from Baltimore, from the Dominican Republic.

“You could really just focus over there and you learn from all these different people.

“You’re always learning.”

He is still waiting for an opponent for his next bout after Martin Gethin withdrew and took a fight with Tommy Coyle instead.

But Catterall is following in the footsteps of fellow Chorley fighter Michael Jennings, who once fought Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden and recently confirmed his retirement because of a persistent shoulder problem.

Jennings became WBU world welterweight champion after two years as British champion – a status that Catterall aspires to.

“I’d love to fight for the British title,” said the southpaw. “I’d like to think that by the end of the year I could be fighting for that.

“My next fight is on March 6 and I’m just waiting to find out my opponent. But I will feel confident whoever I face.”