The long wait is over for a boxer who featured on the same show as Anthony Joshua back in 2019.

Omar Dusary is ready to make a comeback after Covid-19 threw a spanner in the works and saw many boxers out of action until this year.

The Kuwait-born 27-year-old from Blackburn will fight on Friday, September 3, at the Colne Municipal Hall on a bill that is packed with East Lancashire talent.

Dusary jumped up from flyweight and super-flyweight to lightweight to fight London-based Saudi Zuhayr Al Qahtani for the WBC’s Middle East lightweight championship in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, when Joshua got his revenge against Andy Ruiz.

After his loss, he returned to England and has been training every day to prepare himself for the next fight.

He said: “I am coming back stronger, and the defeat just made me train harder.

“It has been two years now, so I am ready to put Blackburn on the map and become the first Kuwait-born champion from Blackburn.”

During the pandemic, the boxer and electrical engineer had Covid-19 twice, rendering him bedridden the second time and unable to train.

“I couldn’t get out of bed, and I would usually be up for 6am,” said Dusary, who has won seven of nine fights with one draw on his record. “The only good thing is that I did not eat so I was dieting throughout it, because I couldn’t taste anything, so I never ate anything unhealthy.”

Dusary’s motto while training has been ‘if you don’t sweat then don’t shower because you don’t deserve one’, also emphasising the mental side of things.

He said: “I have to put in that extra work to beat the next guy. It’s not all training as well, it’s also believing in myself.

“Some people message me and wish me dead, but they just make me work harder.

“I don’t care what people think because I came from nothing.”

Dusary came to England when he was eight years old and could not speak English when he arrived.

He said: “I got into fights a few times because a kid would hit me, but I’d get into trouble for giving him a beating.

“I am just looking forward to fighting even though it will be difficult because I have been out for a while.”

The Blackburn boxer is also looking to do a PhD in electrical engineering. But training is not the worst pain this boxer has experienced.

He said: “Last week I had toothache and it was so bad that even when I went training, I could not see any other pain.

“That pain is the worst thing I experienced in my life, and nothing could hurt me more again!”

Also on the bill in Colne are Earby’s Josh Holmes, Rawtenstall’s Aaron Hayden, Burnley’s Reece Farnhill and others.