Josh Kelly is aiming to put himself in position for a world title fight.
He takes on Placido Ramirez on Saturday night, live on DAZN, and the WBO No.1-ranked super welterweight may not have too long to wait for a shot.
“I am punching genuinely hard now. I’m not sure if it’s the weight, the maturity or the belief,” Kelly said, reported BoxingScene.com.
“I’m not trying but I’m putting guys out in sparring and putting people down. It’s starting to go to a whole new level.
“It’s not believing in yourself now, it’s knowing stuff about yourself
“To be able to go to the next level and challenge for world titles and challenge at the top you have to know you’ve got that something about you. I’ve been tested plenty of times in the gym, plenty of times in the professionals and amateurs. I know where I’m at. I know where I’m destined to be going. It’s just a matter of time till we get there.”
His promoter Kalle Sauderland looked ahead and suggested some huge names: “Big fights. Everyone knows I like a domestic blockbuster.
“There’s a few names circling about. Chris Eubank Jnr, Conor Benn, I’ve heard about Kell Brook returning. There’s some very, very interesting domestic fights to make. At the same time there’s big world fights to make. I’ll be honest, I prefer the British ones because they’re big but we’ll see what we can do.”