MONDAY morning, and Stuart Hall was flying into Nice Airport ahead of this evening’s IBF World Bantamweight showdown with Randy Caballero. As the plane circled to begin its descent to land, Hall glanced out of the window to see the azure blue waters of the Mediterranean glinting in the sunlight. Suddenly, he was swept back to a different time, a different world.

Hall has history with the Mediterranean, not with Monte Carlo, where tonight’s fight will take place in the glittering Salle des Etoiles, but with Ibiza, another party-loving, hedonistic hotspot to the south-west.

The story of the Darlington fighter’s transformation from Ibiza-based bad boy to the North-East’s second ever boxing world champion has been told before, but it bears repeating because of its remarkable nature, and the fact that tonight’s fight effectively takes him full circle, back to the part of the world where his life almost fell apart.

Tonight, Hall will step into the ring in front of more than 1,000 spectators and a terrestrial television audience back in the UK that could surpass a million. A decade ago, when the 34-year-old was at the peak of his Ibiza wild stage, there was fighting too, but it didn’t take place inside a ring and it wasn’t anything to do with sporting endeavour.

There was brawling, far too much brawling, as well as drinking binges that went on for days, drug taking that ravaged his mind and body, and various scrapes and dramas that make the current-day Stuart Hall cringe.

Boxing tends to attract champions who have taken an unorthodox route to the top, but few can have embarked on a journey as chequered, yet ultimately rewarding, as Hall’s.

“It feels like a different world, but it isn’t, is it,” said Hall, in a moment of reflection that followed yesterday’s weigh-in, which was every bit as chaotic and colourful as you would imagine from an event that was staged in Monte Carlo’s revered Casino in the presence of Prince Albert. “I don’t spend much time looking back any more, but when I do, it’s crazy.

“When I look back to how I was then, it’s amazing really that I’ve done anything at this age. Forget the world title and all of that, just to be here, smiling with a great life and a great family, that wasn’t on the cards back then.

“I don’t want to over-egg it and I don’t want to go on, but I was a bad person in those days. I was doing bad things, drinking too much, getting wasted, living each day just to get up the next morning and do the same things again. I was on the road to nowhere, but thankfully I got off that road and everything changed.”

Having spent five years in Ibiza, with the occasional trip to Thailand thrown in for good measure, why did Hall return to England and turn his life around?

“There wasn’t this one magical moment or this one event that made things change,” he said. “It wasn’t like something happened and I thought, ‘Right, that has to be the end of it’.

“Maybe I grew up, or maybe I’d just got a few things out of my system. I think I just got tired, tired of living like that and tired of putting my body through hell.

“I started to get fit and gradually got back into the boxing, and I just thought, ‘Right, it’s time to make a proper go of this’. I’m just so pleased I made that decision. If I hadn’t, I’d probably be dead by now.”

Having returned to England, Hall began training in Darlington and Spennymoor and made his professional debut in Darlington’s Engineers’ Institute in 2008.

Some early successes convinced him he could make a career from boxing, and his 2010 victory over Ian Napa to claim the British Bantamweight title in Peterlee proved a major turning point.

“Then was when it started getting really serious,” he said. “It had all been pretty gradual up to that point, but that was the moment when I had to draw a line under everything else and devote myself to boxing. Once you’re British champion, it’s not too big a step on to Commonwealth, European and then the World.”

Temptations still presented themselves along the way, but by that stage, Hall had met his wife, Emma, the person he credits with completing his transformation from wastrel to world champion.

It is often said that behind every successful man stands an even more successful woman, and Hall freely admits he would not be where he is today had it not been for the support of his partner.

“She’s amazing,” he said. “She’s just a legend. Being a boxer means lots of things – you’re away a lot of the time, you have to be really particular about what you do and what you eat, and you can be really moody when you’re in hard training or getting ready for a fight.

“But she takes all of it. She’s a midwifery assistant at the hospital (Darlington Memorial) and over the last month, she’s been working nightshifts and then going straight home to get the kids ready and spend the rest of the day with them. I don’t know how she does it.”

Her workload has increased over the last couple of months because after being based in Darlington and Leeds ahead of his previous world-title bouts, Hall has been shut away in a training camp in Birmingham under the watchful eye of his new trainer, veteran corner-man Paddy Lynch, for the last six weeks.

The move, which was a direct response to June’s surprise defeat to Paul Butler, has reinvigorated the North-Easterner, and while the unbeaten Caballero will present obvious challenges this evening, Hall is confident there will only be one outcome.

“I’m going to win,” he said bullishly. “And that’s not being disrespectful or anything like that because Caballero brings a decent pedigree with him and he obviously thinks he’s a decent fighter.

“But I’m at such a different level to when I beat Malinga last December it’s untrue. I’m stronger, I’m fitter, I’m sharper and I’ve got one of the best trainers there’s ever been in my corner.

“I’ve been sparring against GB internationals and they couldn’t live with me. I’ve been doing six-round spars, getting back in for another six rounds, and then heading straight to the gym to work on the bags. I couldn’t be any fitter.

“Caballero’s record might look good on paper, but he hasn’t fought anyone remotely near the level I’m at. He’s never been hit by the kind of punches I’m going to throw. Let’s see how he handles them in the first round, and then let’s see if he’s still handling them in the 12th because I can you promise you something, I won’t be going anywhere. I’ll still be there throwing them.”