This weekend’s vacant British middleweight title fight between Kieron Conway and Gerome Warbuton is a battle between one fighter who is determined to snatch a belated opportunity to achieve a lifelong ambition and another who is desperate to keep his own dream alive.

Commonwealth champion Conway (22-3-1, 6 KOs) and Warburton (15-1-2, 2 KOs) will fight at Copper Box Arena on Saturday night. The evening’s headline attraction is the heavyweight rematch between Johnny Fisher and Dave Allen. DAZN will stream the event globally.

Warburton is the type of talented fighter whose drive and focus can be ground away by spending too much time on the small hall circuit.

The 29 year-old Welshman turned professional in 2019, but this will be his first major televised opportunity. To his credit, Warburton continued plugging away after suffering a couple of early bumps in the road and is riding an eight-fight unbeaten run.

Things began to turn in his favour last year. In February he travelled to Aaron Sutton’s backyard and took the unbeaten Bristolian’s undefeated record with a hard-fought, 10-round win. In June he fought to a respectable draw with the solid Ryan Kelly.

Warburton’s persistence has earned him this title shot.

“This is what I've worked for since the first time I walked in a boxing gym when I was 14,” Warburton said at Wednesday’s final press conference.

“This is a very big moment for me. This is my world title and come Saturday I will become British and Commonwealth champion.

“Kieron Conway is a good fighter. He’s had some really good fights. You can't look past people but I do believe that I have got what it takes to beat him on Saturday. I’m hungry.

“I’ve always been there to prove people wrong. People have always thought that I wouldn’t get past certain opposition and I've done it and that's got me the spot that I'm in now. I can't lose on Saturday.

“I’ve got to win.”

Conway, 29, may not be the most fashionable or decorated fighter operating in Britain and he doesn’t have the largest following, but he has been a part of some truly memorable events.

There were more than 70,000 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, when Conway fought the world level Souleymane Cissokho on the undercard of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez’s stoppage win over Billy Joe Saunders in 2021.

The following year he crossed the Atlantic again, boxing Austin "Ammo" Williams at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main event was the third fight between Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. Last year Conway travelled to Japan and stopped Ainiwaer Yilixiati in the first round of the ill-fated million dollar Prizefighter tournament

Beating Warburton would keep Conway’s name in contention for major opportunities. A defeat may not end his career, but it would in all likelihood end his chances of featuring on the sport’s biggest nights.

Conway realises the gravity of the situation.

“My career's been mental to be honest,” he said.

“It's unrealistic some of the stuff that I've been around and seen now and the experiences that I've gained are just phenomenal, but this one's special with it being the British title.

“I'm just really looking forward to getting it on Saturday. I'd need to take this back to Northampton and this is a fight that, in my opinion, I need to win convincingly well.

"It's really important for me to get hold of the title with it being a second time coming as well after falling short against Ted Cheeseman all them years ago [Conway and Cheese fought to a split draw in a British junior middleweight title fight in 2019].

"I'm hugely confident coming into this one. I've had a great, great training camp and I’m genuinely just ready to go now."