Wayne McCullough is out to avenge his friend Bernard Dunne's defeat at the hands of Kiko Martinez on Saturday night at the Kings Hall in Belfast.
However, the European title that Martinez took from Dunne when he floored the Dubliner in 86 seconds at the Point in August will not be on the line.
Dunne and McCullough both fought out of Freddie Roach's gym in Los Angeles for a period of three years and are firm friends.
And the Belfast fighter believes Martinez got lucky against his pal that night in Dublin.
'Everybody is talking about Martinez and his punching power, but when he caught Bernard, he caught him on the temple and that can not only happen to anyone, it is very, very hard to recover from,' McCullough told the Star.
Kiko 'La Sensacion' Martinez is 16 years younger than the 'Pocket Rocket,' but McCullough is feeling confident about his chances.
'He's moving up to world class for the first time when he fights me. I'm feeling in great shape. I've been training for two years twice a day and I feel very confident,' he said.
'He's unbeaten, true, and has a lot of knockouts on his record, but I've been in with much bigger punchers - guys like Erik Morales and Naseem Hamed - and they couldn't put me down.'
McCullough has not fought since losing to Oscar Larios two and a half years ago, but believes he still has plenty to offer.
'People are saying that I'm just back fighting for the money but I'm not, I love the sport and I know that I can be world champion again.
'I believe if I beat Martinez then I can go on to fight for a world title against Israel Vasquez next year.'
