Leytonstone fighter Philip ‘QuickSilver’ Bowes believes he has learned from defeat in his last bout and is now itching to put those lessons into practice when he faces Johnny Coyle next month.

The 30-year-old admitted after his tenth-round knockout by Joe Hughes in October he had not prepared as thoroughly as he might have done but is keen to take as many positives from the experience as possible.

Bowes will now go toe-to-toe with Prizefighter champion Coyle at York Hall on May 16 for the Southern Area super-lightweight strap he lost to Hughes seven months earlier.

He said: “The loss has really opened my eyes to a lot of things in boxing. I was complacent regarding Joe Hughes; I felt like I could not be beaten and when you get that feeling it is dangerous.

“I never missed any training sessions but I took my foot off the gas and was not as determined as I should have been.”

The 5ft 11in southpaw had hoped to meet Hughes again in a rematch after losing the Southern Area title to the 24-year-old from Wiltshire but a fight could not be made after several months of protracted negotiations.

However, Hughes has since vacated the title for reasons which are unclear, allowing Bowes and Essex-based welterweight Coyle to meet.

Although Bowes would not divulge the full details of the discussions for the potential re-run, he refused to close the door on a second meeting in the future.

“That is something I would definitely love to re-visit,” explained Bowes. “But first I want to get my hands on this title then I will have a bargaining tool.

“As soon as I lost I wanted to rectify the problem and show what people saw was not what I am about and it was an off day.

“But I want to put that behind me now; it is five or six months later, it hurt but on that night I was not properly prepared.”

He continued: “There are always rumours and hearsay but I would not like to talk about that – there is enough talk about without me getting involved. It would be disrespectful to Joe Hughes to speculate about why he vacated the belt.”

Coyle (9-0) represents a step up in class of opponents for Bowes and the 21-year-old has picked up three consecutive points victories since winning the 2014 Prizefighter competition just over a year ago.

“I am happy to be fighting for the title again,” Bowes said. “I feel I will be the underdog on the night even though Prizefighter is not ten rounds – it is back-to-back – we can all do that but I respect him.

“I am not looking as him as a great opponent, he has the same record I had when I lost my belt to Joe Hughes.”

One of the changes since Bowes’ defeat to Hughes has been to switch trainer. He is now working with Jason Rowland and Carl Loko, who also trains Epping-based lightweight Richard Commey.

“To be honest, they can’t teach me anything different in terms of technique,” said Bowes. “It is punch fitness we are working on. A marathon runner is fit but they could not get in the ring and do what we do.”