Harris, like most Welsh fighters, has had a career with few bouts at home and mostly has boxed out of the away corner.

The son of former British champion Peter Harris, who in the best of Welsh boxing traditions is Jay’s trainer, Harris made his professional debut in 2013 for a purse of £100., external

He amassed an impressive record of 17-0 boxing on small hall shows, winning the European and Commonwealth titles, culminating in an eye-catching victory over Paddy Barnes in Belfast.

Harris, a father of two who at the time was combining boxing with working part-time in an Amazon warehouse, had put himself well into the world title picture.

In 2020 he fought WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez in Texas, losing on points in a gallant effort that proved he belonged at the world level.

Harris performed so well that Martinez’s promoter Eddie Hearn tipped him as a future world champion, but the reality was more painful, with Harris losing two of his next three fights.

He was stopped twice by Ricardo Sandoval and then Hector Flores in 2021, the worst possible time for a boxer to be on the slide as the pandemic caused most small hall shows to be cancelled. With Harris only able to box once in 2022, he began working towards a career as a personal trainer.

Retirement seemed inevitable, until it didn’t.

“It was a hard time for me. After I lost to Flores I thought that was it, I genuinely did, I thought I was done,” he told BBC Sport Wales.

“Carrying on, it just didn’t really seem worth it. I spoke to my dad and my manager [former world title contender] Gary Lockett and told them what I was thinking.

“But then one of the boys, Joshua John, needed some sparring for an upcoming fight.

“I wasn’t really training at the time but gave it a go and sparring him, that ignited something in me again.

“I told my dad I wasn’t going to give up and try and chuck as much as I could at boxing in the short time I had left.

“I wanted to get back to that world level again… now I’m in touching distance of doing it.”