UNBEATEN Kingsteignton super-featherweight Jamie Speight is confident of putting in a knock-out performance at Torquay's Riviera International Centre tomorrow night.
Speight, 21, who is stepping up to lightweight for his third pro contest, clashes with a more experienced boxer in Bideford's John Van Emmenis.
But, with almost 200 fans behind him, coming from as far and wide as Liverpool and Ireland, the former Teign School, Kingsteignton, student is optimistic of putting a stop to the bout before the bell sounds for the sixth and final round.
'I'm just looking forward to getting in there now,' said Speight, whose fight is expected to be the chief supporting contest to the Dean Mills (Bridgwater) and Chris Higgs (Lydney) clash.
'When I squared up to Van Emmenis at last month's press conference, I could see that I was the bigger of the two – slightly taller, slightly wider – and I'm going to be the more skilful on the night.
'I'm confident I'm going to win. I'm very heavy-handed for the weight and I do hit hard.
'I know he's a weight above me but, if I catch him with a clean shot, I can't see why I can't knock him out.
'It's all about taking my time over six rounds to do it and use the little shots to open the gaps for the big shots.'
There are seven bouts in total – there were supposed to be eight but Torquay's light-welterweight has had to pull out of his clash with Bristolian Adam Cummings after tearing his left bicep tendon during training – with promoter Keith Mayo anticipating a sell-out 1,175 crowd.