ROBBIE Turley will bid to regain the Commonwealth super-bantamweight strap this autumn when he makes his comeback after a 12-month ban from all sport.

Tony Borg-trained Turley hasn’t fought since last April when he claimed the then vacant title with a ninth-round stoppage of Bobby Jenkinson in Newport.

In February it was revealed Turley had failed a post-fight drugs test, later admitting the violation but insisting he took banned diuretic furosemide by mistake while visiting his ill grandmother.

A hearing found the 31-year-old from Cefn Fforest was at “no significant fault or negligence”.

He will return to the ring on the Sanigar Events show at the Newport Centre on Saturday, October 27 to challenge reigning Commonwealth champion Ashley Lane (12-8-2).

Lane, 27, beat Michael Ramabeletsa to the belt last September after Turley had been forced to relinquish his crown.

Speaking about his time away from boxing, his return to the ring, the clash with Lane and what the future holds, Turley said: “I just want to focus on this fight now and not look back on what happened in the past.

“I enjoyed being away from boxing. Being a professional boxer, you are constantly in the gym and you have hardly any time with your family.

“I got to spend a lot of time with mine and got to do a few things you just can’t when you’re a boxer. It’s nice to pop down the pub now and then!”

He added: “It’s nice to be back, 15 months out is a long time.

“I’m putting everything into it now and feeling really good.

“I’ve been back in the gym four weeks and the weight is coming down very fast.

“I did bloat up a bit but it’s coming off quicker than I thought it would.”

He continued: “Ashley Lane is the champion at the moment – he’s just keeping the belt warm for me.

“I do rate Ashley but I know I’ve been in with much better than him, sparring and fighting. I’ve sparred with him many times and, technically, I think I’m a few levels above him.

“It’s going to be a tough fight but if I get back to 70 per cent of what I’m capable of I should beat him.

“We have helped each other out for fights in the past and we are friends, but at my best I feel I’m at a totally different level.

“This is make or break, if I lose that will be it for me.

“If I win then I’ll see how far I can go.”

For Northampton-born Lane it is a 23rd outing as a professional, the first of which, a draw against Ryan McNicol, took place in April 2011.

That was a couple of months after Turley eased to a points victory over Paul Economides to get his hands on the vacant Welsh super-bantamweight title, also in Newport.

That set Turley up for a crack at the Celtic champion, one Carl Frampton, who had won the belt in just his eighth pro bout.

Frampton was too good for Turley in Cardiff and, as we know, then went on to much greater things.

Nine months after his loss to Frampton, Turley did lift the Celtic crown, but that stoppage of Gavin Reid proved to be his last fight for two years.

Concerns over a routine brain scan saw the British Boxing Board of Control withdraw Turley’s licence, but he fought hard to prove his health wasn’t at risk and in late 2013 he was allowed to box on.

Meanwhile, Pontypool’s Kieran Gething and St Joseph’s fighter Lance Cooksey both had to get up off the canvas before recording victories in Llandarcy.

Gething (6-1-1) was floored by Jorge Moreno in the first round of their welterweight clash, but the Welshman recovered to knockdown his Nicaraguan opponent in the second.

And Gething finished the job two rounds later, forcing referee Martin Williams to step in after Moreno took half-a-dozen head shots without reply.

Cooksey (6-0) outpointed Taka Bembere 58-55 but only after surviving a second-round knockdown.

He fights again at the Vale Sports Arena in Cardiff on Friday, September 7, while Gething is due to appear at Pontypool Leisure Centre three weeks later.