BOXING: Six weeks ago Wayne McCullough pulled the over-sized tracksuit up around his ears and walked from the Castlecourt shopping centre in Belfast city almost unrecognised. The fighter has had one fight in two years and has been almost seven years out of the country. While there were a few lingering glances towards the lightly-tanned former WBC bantamweight world champion, there was also a strong sense that despite McCullough's secure place in the affections of the Irish public, his homecoming had not yet take

Training in his Sandy Row gym, the fraternity gathered but there was more respect than attachment. They have always scrambled to get close and wonder at the chisel-chinned featherweight, who in recent years has had to fight the British Boxing Board of Control to be allowed to fight.

This weekend, McCullough steps into the ring to again spread the word as an older, wiser fighter making his way towards what he hopes will be another world title fight early next year. This time the public has been invited to what has been a low-key build up against Russian Nikolai Eremeev in the Maysfield Leisure Centre in Belfast's city centre.

McCullough has used the analogy of a low car mileage when pressed about his renaissance at 32 and judging by his impressive fourth round stoppage of Johannes Maisa in September in London's Bethnal Green, the facts have sided thus far with the boxer.

Eremeev is not a household name but in the tradition of Russian fighters, he will be abrasively tough and durable, more so than the dangerous but unorthodox Maisa, and will constitute a step up in McCullough's fast-tracking towards a planned world title show down with WBO champion Scott Harrison in 2003.

McCullough knows little about his opponent, who arrives in Belfast after the BBBC turned down a number of prospective opponents as not being in the same class as the former Olympic silver medallist.

"It has been frustrating. It has been very tough finding an opponent for me but the reason I fought so hard to get my licence back was to fight in my home town, so now I'm looking forward to it," says McCullough. "Belfast needs regular pro shows.

"It's been seven years since my last Belfast fight, so this is going to be special. I'd like to see four or five shows here a year because boxing died here in recent years, not just the pro game but the amateurs as well.

"Eremeev is a decent fighter and has gone the distance with some other good fighters, including a current world champion, so it is not going to be easy. But obviously I feel I am in a different class."

McCullough is now a commodity for British promoter Frank Warren and despite the cautious match, Eremeev, with just five defeats in 25 bouts, cannot be taken for granted.

All five of the Russian's defeats, to Alex Arthur, Spend Abazi, Phillip N'dou, Gavin Rees and Osamu Sato, have been to quality opposition, so McCullough's formidable reputation is likely to pose little psychological threat. And Eremeev has shown a catholic appetite for travelling, taking in 10 different countries for his 25 bouts in what is quite a bohemian career.

But winning, despite obviously being the primary aim, does not quite go to the heart of the matter. McCullough and others, most notably prospective opponents such as Harrison and WBC superbantamweight king Willie Jorrin will be looking for an indication that when or if the Irish man is asked to step up another boxing level, he won't suffer from vertigo.

McCullough has taken down the tempo of his marauding style and has redirected his energy into landing firmer punches, in an effort to dispatch opponents with greater economy but, still a crowd-pleaser, he continues to throw over 100 punches a round.

The Belfast hype for the bill, which also features British welterweight champion Neil Sinclair and former British light-welterweight champion Mark Winters, should ensure that frenetic flurry will continue, or even increase. This is McCullough's chance to resurrect his profile in Ireland and form a clear vision of what lies ahead in his career after a fraught and winding road to get here.