The then-Commonwealth middleweight champion was barred from the sport for four years in 2018 after testing positive for trace amounts of benzoylecgonine, which led to him going through a downward spiral into alcohol addiction but he’s come back stronger.

He told Boxing News magazine: “If I’m honest with himself, I’m so glad the ban happened.

“It’s made me who I am, realising that time goes on. With or without you, boxing goes on.

“It put me 20 steps back but I’ve taken 50 steps forward.

"At the time, it was horrible. I hated boxing, hated everyone in it.

“I was seeing people get six-month [bans], people getting time covered up and I just hated it. But now, looking back, I’m happy it happened.”

Liam eventually turned his life around in the wake of the death of his step-daughter Tiegan at the age of 20 and he’s proud that he’s helped inspire other people.

He said: “It’s amazing isn’t it? I’d been screaming about it for years and no one was interested. But now it’s just snowballed and people can relate to it.

“I get all sorts of messages from people telling me they’ve stopped drinking or taking drugs because of [my story] and they’ll show me their progress.

“I was an alcoholic, a fat **** that had no hope in life, and now I’ve made it.

“Not as a world champion, but I’ve made it.”