MANCHESTER, England – Joshua Buatsi lives a monastic life ahead of his fights.

He turned up for the final press conference ahead of this weekend’s match-up with Zach Parker showing the results of his efforts.

Sporting a thick beard and with his long hair stuffed under a baseball cap, The Ring's No. 5-ranked light heavyweight politely went through the motions and completed media duties before retreating back to his hotel to begin cutting his final few pounds before Friday’s weigh-in.

DAZN will broadcast Saturday’s event live from Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena.

On Saturday, he will cut a totally different figure. The hair will be short, the beard gone, and the 32-year-old will show the world what he has been working on since losing his undefeated record and WBO interim light heavyweight title to Callum Smith last February.

For the time being, however, Buatsi (19-1, 13 KOs) isn’t willing to give any insight into his mindset or his tactics. He can ill afford to lose a second consecutive fight, but if he is feeling any pressure, it would be all but impossible to tell.

“Might be,” he said. “It’s a fight that I know I must win and a fight that I’ve prepared very hard for and I’m looking forward to."

Buatsi has faced a number of British fighters on his rise through the ranks. He cruised to the British title and beat the highly-rated Craig Richards, Dan Azeez and Willy Hutchinson before running into former WBA super middleweight champion Smith.

The talented Parker (26-1, 19 KOs) is a former British champion at super middleweight but has yet to truly make his mark at 175 pounds. Nonetheless, he is ranked at No. 3 with the WBO, and Buatsi is taking him extremely seriously.

“Currently, I’ll put him at number one,” Buatsi said when asked where the 31-year-old ranks amongst his British rivals. “He’s the next guy that I need to beat to keep moving forward so, for me, he’s number one.

“A fighter that’s ambitious, that makes him dangerous. Parker seems very ambitious, so he’ll be a dangerous fighter, and it’s for me to go out there and handle business.”