A BURY boxer got back to winning ways in the unlikely surroundings of Barcelona.

Prospect Ben Ridings was victorious on a show in Ripollet, Catalonia, on Sunday, beating home fighter Elkhan Bairamov on points over four rounds.

It was a fourth professional win for the 23-year-old, whose only defeat in the paid ranks came when he jumped up to face Jez Smith live on Sky Sports at short notice last time out in November.

Now back on the right track, Ridings will look to kick on further between now and the end of the year.

Manager and trainer Kieran Farrell was impressed with his charge’s performance and believes the experience of fighting in Europe will stand the super-middleweight in good stead moving forwards.

“It was a very good performance,” said Farrell, also a promoter who is based at the People’s Gym in Heywood.

“He showed he’s improved on the mistakes he made in the Jez Smith fight and I think it was his best performance to date.

“I’m trying to build a few things internationally and wanted to give my fighters the international experience before they get on the bigger stage. We’ve seen some recently come unstuck when they’ve fought fighters from abroad.”

Ridings turned pro towards the end of 2018 and picked up three quick wins before being out of the ring for 18 months.

The opportunity to appear on a Matchroom show at Wembley Arena then arrived but Ridings lost over six rounds against Smith on the undercard of Conor Benn’s win against Sebastian Formella.

Victory in Spain is seen as the first step in building him up for future tests. His opponent on Sunday Bairamov has now won just one of his 12 fights.