BOXING: COMING first is a terrific habit that boxer Nick MacDonald has acquired, his only problem seems to be keeping himself fit to achieve his goals on a regular basis.

The 20-year-old Vauxhall Motors ABC bantamweight was crowned ABA Senior Champion for the second time in three seasons in March.

He then followed up with a gold medal in the Four Nations Championships at Liverpool's Olympia, but his hectic schedule again caught up with him as he suffered ligament damage to his knuckles.

The blow means the Saughall Massie stylist missed out on the chance to face a current Olympic champion.

Two weeks ago, a national select squad from Cuba toured England for the first time and their party included two-time gold medal winner Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz in MacDonald's weight division.

MacDonald, who is rated by trainer George Treble as being 'better than Amir Khan', could have had a crack at

glory himself last summer in Athens if it wasn't for a broken thumb which kept him out of the qualifiers.

Because a dreadful string of injuries have dogged him when the major tournaments have come around, MacDonald still feels he has plenty left to prove.

He said: 'I want to do well in the World Championships in China this year. I've had a few offers to turn professional but still believe I have some unfinished business at amateur level. Depending on how I get on at the World Championships, I might turn pro next year or stay on a bit longer and go to the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

'I've also got nine national titles to my name at schoolboy, junior, NACYP and senior ABA level. The all-time record is 10 so, obviously, it would be great to equal that total. I think I can make it to the top. Khan and I were the two lads who were supposed to represent Britain at the Olympics, but injuries ensured he went and I didn't. Perhaps I'd have gone one better?'

Although he works with all of Vauxhall's coaches as well as national team coaches with the England set-up, Mac-Donald remains inseparable from his long-time mentor, Treble.

The pair first worked together at West Wirral ABC when MacDonald was just 11 years old and have been in partnership ever since.

MacDonald said: 'I started out in boxing following in the footsteps of my elder brother, Shane, who eventually had to pack in through injury. George has always been there for me. He's my best mate and like a second dad and I came with him when he switched to the Vauxhall club in Ellesmere Port.'