Mauricio Lara says he is ready to go to war with Josh Warrington at The SSE Arena on Saturday, live on Sky Sports in the UK and on DAZN in the US and more than 200 countries and territories.
The Mexico City native is ranked in the top 10 in the world with the IBF and is on a 10-fight winning streak since May 2018, when he suffered only his second career loss at the hands of Eliot Chavez.
"Bronco" (21-2, 14 KOs) has only fought outside of Mexico on one occasion, a win over Eduardo Estela in Argentina in 2019, but the youngster is full of confidence and believes he can rip up the script by claiming the biggest scalp in the 126lbs division this weekend.
“Initially when I heard it was a World title fight, I was really excited and motivated," said Lara on a recent media call.
"When the news came that it was no longer going to be a World title fight it didn’t change things. I remained just as motivated. We’ve prepared to do a job and that’s what we’re going to do.
“Recently becoming a father to a daughter is an extra motivation for me. It’s always an extra motivation for me when I enter the ring, whether that is for training or fighting. I’ve prepared to come and win. I know that I am going to win. I’ve prepared really hard to go to war in the ring.
“I’m not concerned about the decisions of the judges if it goes to points. We’ve come prepared to win, whether that is by knockout, which would be ideal, but if not, I’m going to make sure it is a clear victory so it doesn’t need to depend on the judges. Either way, I think they will do their jobs correctly.
“It’s normal for fighters in Mexico to begin their careers very young and that was the case for me. I’m going to use that to my advantage when I go into this particular fight. Josh Warrington is seen as the world’s number one Featherweight fighter in Mexico, and he’s number one for a reason. They also believe in me, and they know that I am going to war in London on Saturday."
Warrington vs. Lara tops Matchroom's first show of 2021, with a solid undercard of exciting up-and-comers.
Zelfa Barrett (24-1, 15 KOs) defends his IBF Intercontinental Title against Spain’s former super-bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (41-9-2, 29 KOs) in chief support, Leigh Wood (23-2, 13 KOs) faces the unbeaten Reece Mould (13-0, 6 KOs) for the vacant British Featherweight title, fast-rising super-lightweight Dalton Smith (6-0, 5 KOs) takes on Ishmael Ellis (11-3), Hopey Price (3-0, 1 KO) is in action at featherweight and Ibrahim Nadim (2-0) meets Jonny Phillips (5-5, 2 KOs), also in the featherweight division.