Leigh Wood believes that a fight against Mauricio Lara could be’brutal’ if he picks the wrong approach against the Mexican fighter.
The 34-year-old is the WBA featherweight world champion and will defend his belt live on DAZN on February 19 (exc. Aus & NZ) in Nottingham.
Lara is best known for his upset knockout victory over Josh Warrington in 2021.
Speaking to the BBC, Wood believes that many see his opponent as the favourite but he will emerge victorious.
"I prefer being an underdog and I love proving people wrong," he said.
"People tweet me all the time and say, 'this is a mismatch and I'm going to lose' but if you look at my Twitter I retweet them because it fuels me."
Wood defeated Michael Conlan in his first title defence last year, winning with a remarkable 12th round knockout that saw his opponent crash out of the ring.
However, Wood explained that he needs to pick the right strategy to avoid the difficulty he experienced against Conlan when he was trailing on the scorecards.
"Winning fuels me," he continued.
"Lara has a style that suits me. Conlan was all wrong for me stylistically, but styles make fights and I'm confident in my ability.
"If I approach this fight wrong, it could be brutal. Lara is good and we saw that in the first fight with Josh Warrington, but if I do as I plan, this fight won't reach halfway - I'm going to get Lara out of there."
The fight is rescheduled after Wood suffered a bicep injury to prevent the originally planned September date going ahead.
"I didn't have to fight him; this is a voluntary defence, but I want to test myself and I'm going to show him what I'm all about."