MANCHESTER, England — After accepting a short-notice offer to fight Aqib Fiaz this weekend, Alex Murphy’s first job was to quickly hop on the scales.

The dedicated Salford lightweight had no need to worry and, 12 days later, he and Fiaz (13-1, 2 KOs) will fight over 10 rounds on the undercard of Saturday's welterweight clash between Jack Catterall and Harlem Eubank. DAZN will stream the action globally from Manchester’s AO Arena.

“I had just finished having some food so I was absolutely stuffed. My manager rang me and said Michael Gomez Jr had pulled out and did I want to fight Fiaz? I was like, “Yeah, go on then, we'll take it,”” Murphy (13-1) told The Ring.

“I train all year round. I'm always staying in the gym, always staying sharp. I’m always sparring so when the call came through, there was no reason not to take it.”

At Thursday’s final press conference, Murphy revealed that he had always been in the running to fight Fiaz but that the Oldhamer had, understandably, chosen what would have been an easier and higher profile opponent.

Believing that Gomez Jr would eventually withdraw from the contest, Murphy continued to train as if he would be fighting Fiaz himself.

When the call came, the fit, switch-hitting Murphy leapt at the opportunity to change the course of his career, but the 24-year-old was slightly surprised that Fiaz was so quick to accept such a tricky, late notice change of plan.

“I am, to be fair, but I feel like he had no choice,” he said. “It was either fight me or not fight at all, so I don't think there were many options out there for him, so I think he had to take the fight.

“I think everyone agrees and everyone has said the same thing. It is a tougher fight so he's got his work cut out now on Saturday. I’m there to upset the odds.”

In April, Murphy stepped up to junior welterweight to fight the undefeated Khaleel Majid on the undercard of the heavyweight fight between Filip Hrgovic and Joe Joyce.

Although he lost a close decision and his undefeated record, Murphy gave a good account of himself and produced the best performance of his career.

In fact, it was exactly the type of persistent performance that will have made managers and trainers think twice before accepting him as an opponent for their lightweights.

This fight might be seen as a potential stumbling block for Fiaz, but it represents a decisive moment in Murphy’s career.

“It's a really good opportunity for me. It’s massive. Coming off the Khaleel Majid fight, a lot of people would take a comeback fight like a six- or eight-rounder just to get back into the swing of things,” he said.

“I'm happy to go back into another real big fight on a big platform and another 10-rounder. I'm ready to go for it. It’s a good opportunity and I'm going to take it with both hands.”

Although Murphy had strung together 13 consecutive wins, the fight with Majid was by far the toughest test of his career and it came on the biggest stage he had ever performed on.

Encouragingly, Murphy showed no signs of being overawed by the occasion. Rather than shrinking under the spotlight, he grew as the week went on and, importantly, quickly got a foothold in the fight.

He goes into the fight with Fiaz much better equipped to deal with the demands of a modern fight week.

“I think it was a really good performance and I think that's one of the main positives I can take away from it,” he said of the fight with Majid.

“Even though it's 12 days' notice, I'm going to be a lot more prepared. That sounds weird with the short notice, but because I've been there and done it now once before I know what to expect and I'm ready for it.

“I got onto the big stage and I didn't freeze. You don't know how you're going to react or how you're going to handle the pressure, but I feel like I handled it well and I performed well. Obviously it didn't go my way, but I learnt so much from that fight and I can't wait to go again now on Saturday.”