Jack Catterall hopes his waiting game is nearly over after staying unbeaten with victory in Dubai.

The Chorley fight favourite, the long-time mandatory challenger for the WBO World super lightweight title, was a points winner over tough German Timo Schwarzkopf.

The 26-year-old, who moved to 25-0 as a professional at the Caesars Bluewaters, now has his eyes on finally getting the chance to reach the top of his sport in 2020.

Jose Ramirez holds both the WBO and WBC titles and defends them against Viktor Postol in February in China.

Catterall will be watching that fight with interest knowing that he is next in line having waited patiently for his turn over the last couple of years after rising through the rankings in style.  

“I’m happy with the victory and it was a great event here in Dubai,” said the former British champion.

“Every credit to Schwarzkopf, we both had a lot of notice for the fight and it was nice to get the rounds in.

“He’s been the distance with some top fighters and I expected a tough fight.

“I made hard work of it a bit, but now I want to move on and be more active. I want to test my abilities against all of the top fighters.”

It was only Catterall’s second fight of 2019 having knocked out Oscar Amador at Wembley Arena in April.

In Dubai, he was given a tough 10-round workout but was a comfortable winner on the cards, taking the decision 99-91, 100-91 and 99-92 in the main event of MTK Global’s card.