BOXING trainer Stephen Melton has vowed that Michael Fafera will learn the lessons from his recent knockdown in his 2020 bouts.

York prospect Fafera was sent to the canvas for the first time his career in the third round of last month’s contest against Raimonds Sniedze, but recovered to win by a narrow 38-37 points decision.

The light heavyweight, whose record now stands at six wins from as many professional fights, had waved on the support from his travelling fans at the start of the round and looked intent on stopping Sniedze rather than sticking to his disciplined game plan.

Melton had stressed the importance of boxing from range in the build-up and had worked on the boxing fundamentals during the camp.

The coach thinks that the blow Fafera suffered will prompt a change in his future bouts next year, likely beginning in March at Leeds’ Elland Road Pavilion.

“Mikey did exactly what we trained exactly not to do,” Melton reflected of the bout.

“A lot of our preparation was about trying to get Mikey out of the habit of going to war.

“And, in the first two rounds, he was boxing great. In the third round, he just switched off.

“Mikey just needs to get it out of his head that he needs to play in front of his fans. He wants to please the crowd.

“But, standing there and having a war with your opponent - we just don’t need to be doing that.

“Mikey’s got a good jab and he’s good at range. But, he got too involved in the fight and he got caught with a good shot.

“This fight was another learning curve. It shouldn’t have happened, but it has happened.

“In a way, I am glad that it has happened now, early on in his career.

“It could have been worse had it happened for the first time, further along in his career.

“But this is the learning process and this is boxing. You never know what is going to happen.

“He’s come into the ring only thinking about the knockout. And when you do that, you’re looking for something and you’re forcing your work. Then, it’s never going to happen.

“Sometimes with Mikey he can be quite stubborn and he needs something to happen to change him. I think now he’ll think, ‘Yeah, you were right, we need to do that’.

“I think that this will be a blessing in disguise.”

While certainly culpable of being too open in defence, Fafera did show his powers of recovery to win the pivotal last round and to keep his 100 per cent winning record intact.

It’s a positive that Melton took from the fight.

“It wasn’t a hard knockdown, it was more of a flash knockdown, I thought,” he added.

“He got straight back up to his feet and carried on.

“He got himself up and he won the fight. And at the end of the day, a win is a win.

“Mikey has been sparring with some really good kids and in his spars, he’s performing so much better than he did his last fight.

“For a split second in his last fight, when everyone is cheering, he wants to go and please them with big shots but he doesn’t need to do that.

“He needs to start moving his head more and he needs to stop swinging and standing and trading with his opponents, because if you do that against any fighter at these sort of weights, then anyone is dangerous.

“If you get caught on the chin in the right spot, you’re going to go down.

“I think Mikey has now realised where he went wrong.”