SCOTT Quigg is aiming to regain a spot at boxing’s top table in 2017.

The Bury star lost his WBA super bantamweight crown with a first professional defeat – on a split decision to Carl Frampton in February and a broken jaw from that loss delayed his comeback.

But after moving up a division to featherweight, the 28-year-old showed his class once more with a ninth-round stoppage of Mexican Jose Cayetano last weekend.

And after 10 months on the sidelines, Quigg believes he has returned a better fighter.

He told Bury Times: “I have learnt a lot from the Frampton fight.

“Walking out in front of 20,000 again was huge and I couldn’t have asked for a bigger platform to return on. I have to thank Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua for giving me that chance.

“I knew it could be a long night against Cayetano because (Leo) Santa Cruz couldn’t budge him.

“I knew I had to keep focus and keep calm – keep hitting him with low blows.

“Whatever I had to do, I knew I could get to him.

“The last four rounds that’s when I knew he would slow down and I had to box smart and make my move then.

“I didn’t know I would ping him in the ninth though.

“In the ninth, he came out and put himself in the corner.

“I gave him room to come out but he didn’t want to.

“That’s when I knew he wasn’t liking it and I had worked on the combination of shots to the body and then a right hook over the top.”

It was a positive end to a disappointing year for Quigg who hopes for better times in 2017.

He added: “In 2017 I want to be a world champion again.

“It will most probably be at the end of the year when I get a shot.

“Whoever they put in front of me I am confident I can be at the top again.

“I just want to keep putting in performances like Saturday. When people see a knockout like that, my name will surely be in the mix.”