Opportunity can knock at the most unexpected times.

His Excellency, Turki Alalashikh, recently announced a desire to give some young, hungry fighters the opportunity to box on the undercard of the super middleweight megafight between Mexican great, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and undefeated pound-for-pound superstar Terence Crawford taking place in Las Vegas on September 12.

A few days later Alalshikh took to social media and posted a photo of unbeaten Liverpudlian, Mikie Tallon, and his trainer Joe Gallagher stating he wanted to see the junior flyweight fight on the show in two months' time.

The 20-year-old was deep into preparations for a six-round contest in his hometown when he suddenly found himself being linked with a spot on the year's biggest card.

Although Tallon (8-0, 1 KO) has pressing business to attend to this Friday night against 93-fight veteran Jake Pollard, he admits allowing himself to think about potentially walking out at the cavernous Allegiant Stadium.

"It's something I'd grab with both hands," Tallon told The Ring. "I just know as much as what everyone else knows right now.

"Hopefully, if His Excellency puts me on the show then I can put my name across that side of the world and just start getting mentioned alongside those people."

Gallagher has been raising Tallon on a steady diet: some of the most technically correct, dangerous fighters in the sport's history.

Tallon believe that people can be guilty of over complicating boxing and has fully bought into the former Ring Magazine Trainer of the Year's philosophy.

"Not just necessarily inside the boxing ring, outside the boxing ring. I think people try and overcomplicate things, try and take it a step too far. When you look at all the legends from years ago, it was just the basics that they've done well. That's what made them great fighters," he said.

"Joe just wants me to learn the fundamentals and then master them. He always sends me little clips of the Naoya Inoues and Don Currys. Joe's mentioned in a lot of previous interviews that he compares me to the likes of Erik Morales and Ricardo Lopez, people like that, so that's who I've been watching most since joining the gym."

Fighters like Inoue, Curry, Morales and Lopez were technically excellent but also stone hearted in the ring.

Last month, Tallon scored a career-first stoppage when he manoeuvred Jemsi Kibazange into a perfectly-timed right hand, two rounds into their scheduled 8-rounder.

It has been coming. The basics that Gallagher has been drilling into him are beginning to become second nature and Tallon is quietly starting to develop a reputation as an unforgiving fighter with a cold finishing streak.

Tallon has a natural ruthless streak. Slowly but surely, he is learning how to harness it.

"You've got to be, haven't you?" Tallon said. "I think you can be mates outside the ring but even if he's your gym partner and you're training with him, you've got to beat him at everything. You want to be the number one.

"I just think, 'I can't let you beat me.' That's just my type of mentality. It's that natural fighter's instinct, isn't it? Once you see that opportunity to shoot, take it. If you haven't got that as a fighter, then it's one of the main things.

"You've got to have that killer instinct."

When Tallon's manager, two-weight world champion Natasha Jonas MBE, first brought him to the gym, Gallagher joked that he should go back to school.

He may look like a choirboy but the personable Tallon has been taught to fight like a devil since he first walked into the gym and earned his nickname of "The Omen".

"Ever since I was a kid in the amateur gyms, my dad always used to say that you can be the nicest person outside the ring and then once you get in the ring, you've got to switch. You've got to be a different type of person, you'll be nasty and horrible," he said.

"As Joe says, sometimes you get them moments in a fight where you've got them hurt and you've got to be able to turn the screw. If you can't, you're letting them off the hook and they can then recover and start turning the screw on you."

Tallon has been fighting at around the flyweight limit but the initial plan is for him compete for his first title at junior flyweight before eventually stepping up through the divisions. In Britain, it can be difficult for fighters of Tallon’s potential to find high quality sparring around their own weight but - for the time being - he is content to learn his business in the gym and benefiting from working with bigger, quality fighters.

"I'm always sparring people a lot heavier," he said.

"I always used to spar the likes of Paul Butler. I sparred Josh Holmes, he was the English junior lightweight champion. I've never sparred on people my own weight so I think that helps me when I do get in the ring. I feel a lot bigger and a lot more stronger against the kids my weight."