Boxing:Esham Pickering is adamant he will "expose" unbeaten Irishman Bernard Dunne when they clash at the Point Theatre in Dublin on Saturday.
A professional for 10 years with British, Commonwealth and European titles on his CV, Pickering feels at 30 his best years are still ahead of him and he is not about to allow rising prospect Dunne the chance to ruin his world title ambitions.
Pickering controversially lost the European title last October after a barnstorming 12 rounds with Michael Hunter, who subsequently relinquished the belt in order to face Steve Molitor for the IBF world title tonight.
The defeat still hurts the Sheffield-based fighter and he feels a 7,000 sell-out in Dublin is the perfect stage to prove the Hunter loss was only a blip.
"I actually think that Dunne is a better boxer than Hunter but I expect to knock Dunne out. It'll be exciting while it lasts and I'm really looking forward to it because I can't remember when I was in this good a shape," said Pickering.
"I respect Dunne as a fighter, he's 21 and zero but I will expose him at this level. This is his first real acid test but I've the experience of many 12-rounders and I've fought all over the place.
"I believe that I have the edge in power and I'm a young 30-year-old with plenty left. I still haven't fulfilled my true potential but I hope to show that on Saturday night and when I hit him right he'll be going down.
"People are saying to me that this a make-or-break fight but for me, I just see this as the fight which is going to be the making of me.
"In this fight with Dunne you are going to see the real Esham Pickering. That wasn't the real Esham in there against Hunter. Mentally I wasn't stable for the fight.
"I wasn't even 50 per cent and I still thought that I won the fight. But that's the past, no excuses."
Dubliner Dunne has steadily been moved into title contention by manager Brian Peters, who had his fighter based in Los Angeles with world-renowned coach Freddie Roach for four years before bringing him home.
Dunne enjoyed 14 straight victories in the States under the promotional banner of Sugar Ray Leonard and was featured heavily on American television. Since then his most notable wins have been over former European featherweight title challenger Yuri Voronin and former European bantamweight champion Noel Wilders, who retired shortly afterwards.
"I've done my apprenticeship and now it's time to show that I'm the real deal," said the 26-year-old. "Pickering is a step up in class for me. He's a world-class fighter and he's very slippery but I know what I can do and I know that I have the tools to beat him.
"I am very confident that this is my time now and I'm not going to let Pickering stand in the way of that."
Dunne will be watching tonight's fight between Molitof and Hunter with interests, and admits he'll be cheering for the latter who he sees as his next opponent if he beats Pickering.