Dalton Smith knows that an unexpected slip up would deal a fatal blow to his world title hopes but insists that he has learned how to deal with the pressure ahead of this weekend’s fight with Canada’s Mathieu Germain.

The 28 year-old from Sheffield is the mandatory challenger for the WBC junior welterweight title that Alberto Puello recently won by squeaking past Sandor Martin and is doing all he can to ensure that his tools are as sharp as possible when his opportunity does arrive.

In January, Smith, 17-0 (13 KOs), ruthlessly took apart the overmatched Walid Ouizza in the opening round to win the vacant European title and rather than sitting idle, he quickly agreed to stay busy against Canadian veteran, Germain, 26-2-1 (11 KOs).

DAZN will stream the event which take place at Sheffield’s intimate Park Community Arena.

Ouizza and Germain may not be household names but having maneuvered him to within touching distance of a world title shot, Smith’s backers aren’t going to put him into a fifty-fifty fight and risk throwing away years of hard work.

In an an era where fighters will happily sideline themselves for months and allow themselves to go stale whilst they wait for their opportunity, at least Smith is keeping himself active and visible.

Smith maintains that being so close to a world title shot isn’t weighing him down whatsoever.

“The crazy thing is, when I was early on in my professional career it's like pressure. ‘I’ve got to win,” Smith said at Thursday’s final press conference.

“I'd be stressing a couple of weeks before. I don't know what it is, whether it naturally comes as you become a mature fighter, but it's like I'm not even fighting. It’s just, you go to the gym, you put the work in and maybe it's confidence of how hard I work but I just know when the fight night comes there is no stresses because I work too hard for it.

“I feel no pressure. What is the pressure? The only pressure is I'm doing it for myself. I’m doing it for the team around me it's nobody else.”

Mathieu has to represent the final barrier between Smith and a world title fight.

He has no intention of allowing the situation to drag on any longer than it needs to. Should he get past Mathieu, Smith’s sole focus will switch to Puello and that famous green and gold belt.

“I'm not overlooking Saturday night but I’ve prepared well and I'm expecting a big performance,” he said. “No disrespect, but deal with Mathieu Germain then I want to go hunting down Alberto Puello for the WBC world title.

“I’m not I'm not saying this to try and build something up, I’m just hungry and and I want something more than ever.”