GORBALS fighter Joe Ham has had a taste of the big stage as an amateur, and has loved his experience of the media spotlight when boxing on the undercards of friend Ricky Burns’s high-profile bouts.

But the 26-year-old’s New Year’s resolution is to become the main attraction in his own right, after rounding off 2017 by maintaining his perfect record as a professional.

For Ham, his thirteenth pro triumph represented a watershed moment in his career, and he now feels ready to mount a serious challenge for titles in 2018.

“I think the fight in December will be my last six-rounder,” said Ham. “I feel like I’m past that level now and I just want to fight for titles now.

“It’s time for me to progress and move on. I rounded off the year with a win and now I want to step it up.

“We’ll see what the first couple of weeks of the year brings, and hopefully I’ll find out soon what fights are available.

“I’d like to fight for as many titles as I can. I want to fight for a Commonwealth or a British title, but any title that presents itself to me I’ll snap up.

“All the learning fights are over with now, it’s time to put it to good use, and I’m sure I will get some big fights.

“I’ve experienced a lot of boxing on big stages as an amateur, so it’s not new to me, and that’s half the battle.

“If you can handle the occasion, then getting into the ring is the easy bit. A lot of people freeze, but I’m ready to snap up that opportunity when it comes my way.”

Ham certainly started such an important year of his life in the right fashion, dragging himself out of bed on New Year’s Day to tackle one of Glasgow’s most daunting climbs.

“Every New Year’s Day me and my pals start the year with a run up the Rottenrow hill,” he said.

“It was horrible, and it never gets any easier. I don’t drink, so I was driving for the bells, but I know a lot of the boys were dreading going out because it’s not the sort of thing you want to be doing on the 1st if you’ve had a few. Luckily, it wasn’t just as bad for me!”