Irish boxer Eric Donovan is confident he can take a golden opportunity to put himself in the super-featherweight world title picture this Friday.
Donovan takes on IBF intercontinental champion Zelfa Barrett in Eddie Hearn's Fight Camp series, with a win against the home prospect likely to propel the 12-0 fighter to the very top.
Despite being the underdog in the co-main event and describing the move as a 'risk', the Kildare native is confident that he can upset the odds and have his arm raised late on Friday night.
"In life if you want to be successful, you have to take risks," Donovan said.
"But you also have to back it up, you have to be good enough and you have to prepare well.
"When this opportunity presented itself, I knew that chances for me are few and far between for where I am at my age and in my career.
"Nobody had the balls to fight Zelfa at super-featherweight in Britain, so when Mark put it up to me, I said, 'yes Mark, I’ll take it', because I see it as an opportunity.
"I believe in myself and I believed that if I could get a good camp, with good preparation, that I could put in a good performance and win this fight.
"So far we have done that, and if I can perform to the best of my ability on Friday night, I think I can do enough to win."
A fan of Barrett, the 35-year-old is well aware of the calibre of opponent he faces.
"I am absolutely under no illusion that this is going to be a tough fight," said Donovan.
"Zelfa Barrett is a formidable opponent, I respect him, he’s a class act.
"And I’ve said this before, I’m a fan of Zelfa Barrett and I would have watched him at home, and said, 'this guy is good, have a look at this guy’ to whoever was watching with me. He has a good boxing IQ, good ability, everything.
"But do you know what? I’m good too and I believe in myself.
"I haven’t been tested in my professional career, but that is due to a number of factors. The team I had had very limited resources, the budget, the funding behind me, it was very bottom of the ladder stuff, starting out grafting starting to serve my apprenticeship.
"And I believe now I have graduated and I am going out on Friday night against a proper opponent in a proper fight, and it’s going to be a cracker."
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