Fabio Wardley believes Frazer Clarke has damaged his reputation by not fighting him earlier than their March 31 date.
Wardley is the British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion and the pair fight at the O2 Arena (live on Peacock in the US).
Clarke and Wardley were set to fight last year but Clarke did not take part in a mandated purse bid for the 2023 British title.
Clarke instead fought and beat both Mariusz Wach and David Allen, but Wardley believes Clarke pulled out of a fight which damaged his standing.
He told Sky Sports: "There's still some question marks there.
"He has a strong pedigree in amateur boxing that is not to be taken lightly at all. But the pro game is very different and the fights in the pro game are very different as well.
"He hasn't shown anything of any worth really in the pro game as of yet - not that I've seen, and not that the boxing public has seen."
Discussing the failure of a purse-bid fight, he said: "His team, or whoever around him agreed, because they didn't let him fight me. So I must have been right somewhere. And I still don't feel that the fights he's had since are of any worth of any real substance to put him in a position where he feels like he should be ready to fight me now. But if he does think that, then we'll see.
"He knows what happened before with him pulling out of the fight has really affected his reputation. He's got a lot behind him in terms of aggravation towards me and wanting to set that right. So I welcome it.
"He's game. He wants to have a go."
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