MOSTON, England - Every morning, Pat Barrett climbs the battered concrete steps to the famous Collyhurst and Moston Gym sitting above a convenience store on the outskirts of Manchester city centre.

The gym has been Barrett's home for around 40 years. As a fighter, he was a ferocious puncher whose frightening power won him the British and European junior welterweight titles, earning him a world title shot.

He has enjoyed similar success as a trainer. Since taking over the gym when his mentor Brian Hughes MBE was forced to retire, Barrett has guided his nephew, Zelfa Barrett, and cousin Lyndon Arthur, to world title contention and helped save them from the dangers and distractions of life on the streets and estates surrounding the gym.

The gym also acts as the base for Black Flash Promotions, the busy promotional company Barrett formed over a decade ago and, these days, he spends almost as much time in his office as he does prowling around the training room or leaning on the ropes watching sparring.

The beautiful blue and gold European title belt he won by knocking out Efren Calamati back in 1990 hangs behind him on the wall.

On Saturday night, Arthur (24-3, 16 KOs) has a European title fight of his own. He will challenge newly crowned light heavyweight champion, Brad Rea (21-1, 10 KOs).

The match-up between Manchester United fan Arthur, and Manchester City supporter Rea, is the biggest and most meaningful local derby the city has seen in over a decade. The fight will take place at the city’s Co-op Live Arena, streamed globally on DAZN.

Barrett will have his training hat on this weekend but the fight excites the promoter in him.

"Brad Rea is a champion, he's won the European title but not been in these situations before. For him to have a taste of it, he's not going to let it go, is he?" Barrett told The Ring.

"He wants the big fights. He's saying, "It's my turn now. You've had your turn, Lyndon.'"

"When I saw Brad win that European title fight, the first thing I did the next day was phone Steve Wood [Rea's manager]. I said, 'What are we about doing this, Steve? This could be the best Manchester derby since Anthony Crolla and John Murray.'

"I said this could be actually better because it is Manchester City versus Manchester United. It's a great derby. The next thing you know, everyone's doing the same thing and playing on the football. I put that out as a statement on X and it blew up. It is a great fight, good for Lyndon to be in such a fight because it's the European title and a chance of a lifetime for Brad."

Back in April, Arthur lost his rubber match with Anthony Yarde.

For seven rounds, Arthur boxed well. He moved, used the outstanding jab that confused Yarde so completely during their first fight and also landed his dangerous and underrated right hand.

Keen to prove a point after being stopped by Yarde in their rematch, he then decided to fight. Spending more time with his back to the ropes played to Yarde's strengths and the Londoner eventually earned a hard-fought but unanimous decision, settling their three-fight series.

Yarde and Ring/unified light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol are the only men to have beaten Arthur since he turned professional back in 2016 but, at 34-years-old, many wondered whether he would want to drop down the levels and regather himself for another climb towards the top.

Rea's emergence as a European champion opened an unexpected door for Arthur but Barrett never had a single doubt about his level of motivation anyway.

"Listen, if he didn't want to start all over again, I wouldn't be going with him," he assured. "Of course he wants to do it.

"We know what it's all about, what we have to do to get back up there but this doesn't make us up there now. We've got to win, so has Brad, so there's a lot in this fight for both."

Barrett understands just how high the stakes are this weekend.

Arthur has competed at a far higher level than Rea but the younger man is full of confidence and in the form of his life.

It is almost three years to the day since Rea was unfairly and unceremoniously dumped after losing an English middleweight title fight to Tyler Denny. Forced to rebuild on the small halls, the 27-year-old remained dedicated to his task, allowed his 6ft 4in frame to grow into the 175-pound division and emerged from the wilderness in June to outfight Shakan Pitters for European honours.

He now has a promotional deal with Queensberry and knows where a win over the well-known, established Arthur will take him.

Barrett knows exactly what to expect this weekend. Arthur and Rea have sparred in the past but rather than worrying about what Rea does well or racking his brains for areas they can exploit, Barrett has concentrated on ensuring Arthur is as good as he can possibly be.

"We don't care about what level, whatever he's been from. That person is there, respect him. That's all that matters," he said.

"Respect what you're up against. You have to respect your enemies even though you don't like them because they're dangerous, respect your opponent because they're the champion.

"If you don't respect them and don't prepare for them in the right way, you're going to get beat off someone who's meant to be mediocre. There's no such thing as that [under Barrett's watch]. I don't care what anybody says.

"He's there. He's the champion, not us. We're the challengers so regardless of whatever level we've been on this many times, this is a whole different one."