Josh Padley is reaping the rewards of staying fit and ready out of camp.

The part-time boxer, part-time electrician was fitting solar panels on the day he received an offer to fight WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on four days’ notice. Luckily Padley had stayed in the gym, hoping an opportunity would present itself, and when it did, he took it with both hands.

Padley, although stopped in the 10th, gave a good account of himself against Stevenson, so much so that he was signed by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and is now able to fully dedicate himself to boxing full-time.

“It's paid off,” Padley told BoxingScene. “I was an unsigned fighter prior to going into that, craving to be signed. I'd had one opportunity, won it, and then nothing had really happened since that. So if anyone's out there not getting their opportunity, stay ready, because you don't know what's around the corner.”

While the first defeat of his pro career pains him, Padley, now 15-1 (4 KOs), acknowledges he gained a lot more than he lost against Stevenson.

“Yeah, the first 24 hours were a bit of a sour pill to swallow because as a fighter you don't want to lose,” he said. “But then, obviously, all the love that the public have shown me and the media and everybody's really got behind me since it… So it has done me masses and masses of favours. I might say I've got a promotional [contract] off the back of it, so it's win-win.”

Padley produced the performance of his career against Mark Chamberlain back in September, winning via unanimous decision. That fight remains the only contest to date to which Padley was able to dedicate himself full-time during training camp. Padley expects similar performances now that he is a full-time athlete.

“I think I'll just get to that next level of fitness and conditioning and stuff,” he said. “I've only been full-time for eight weeks - against Chamberlain - and that was the type of performance that I did and put on there. So when I've been full-time for a couple of years or whatever, now it's going to be even better and I'm going to progress even more.”

Padley will fight for the first time under the Matchroom banner on April 19 in Sheffield, England, with an opponent still to be announced. But what is the aim for Padley now that he can dedicate his life to his craft? Is it money or silverware?

“Bit of both,” said Padley. “Like I say, when you win the titles the money comes with it, so they go hand in hand and I'm just excited for the next part. I split my career into two halves. Now this is my next part and I'm excited to get it going.

“I think I'll get back to winning ways and then I'll be pushing towards British titles and stuff like that. I just need to figure out which weight category. I think super featherweight is potentially an option. We're going to do a full camp at lightweight this next one and like I said this is going to be the first full camp that we'll have done at lightweight and I’ll see how we feel. All being well there's the potential that we might move down to super feather after that.”