Viddal Riley's memory extends all the way back to the age of three when he first picked up a pair of boxing gloves.

Twenty-four years later, the Tottenham man (12-0, 7 KOs) is set to fight for the British cruiserweight title at Spurs' Stadium, a few miles down the road from where he was born.

The fight, against current Lonsdale belt holder Cheavon Clarke (10-1, 7 KOs), will take place on Ring Magazine's first ever card, which is to be headlined by Chris Eubank Jr vs. Conor Benn - live on DAZN PPV.

"Three years old, man," he tells The Ring. "I started boxing at three. My dad used to have it on TV all the time so when he asked me to do a couple combinations and stuff, they were just coming off a bit better than it should for a three-year-old.

"The first time he told me 'you could be a national champion' was when I was seven, and you can't win your first national championship until you're 12. Then I won it at 12 and then I won it again and again and again.

"So he saw something, it was kind of like destiny. I was ordained to do it, type of thing. It's just in my DNA, and now it's just about completing the journey."

While Riley began to hone his craft as an amateur, grabbing silver at the European Junior Championships in 2013, his life changed forever, one day, after social media mogul KSI walked into a London gym he worked at as a personal trainer.

The pair struck up a bond and Riley would go on to train KSI, real name Olajide Olatunji, for his influencer fight with Logan Paul at Staples Center in 2019.

A year before that, Riley walked into the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas, where much of KSI's training camp would be based. It was there he caught the eye of Jeff Mayweather after an intense spar with Andrew Tabiti.

Riley signed a promotional deal with Mayweather Promotions and from there, his career was up-and-running. He made his debut in late 2018 before fighting on the Manny Pacquiao-Adrien Broner undercard in Las Vegas two months later.

"You know, naturally Americans have personality, man," he adds. They're going to let you know how they feel. They're going to point out that you're from the UK. They're going to tell you that you can't do anything because you're from the UK.

"So you're immediately written off and underestimated. But respect is not given, you have to earn it. I had to go through a process where after a couple of weeks, people heard my accent, but I showed and proved that I could fight.

"I sparred with some really quality fighters out there who they respected. And then once they saw me in there with them, it was like, all right, cool.

"It's very good for your personality, character-building, especially at the age I was, 21. They breed intimidation and you just gotta make it work, man, but I was built for it."

By the time Riley finished his stint at Mayweather's, he felt he'd proved himself.

He said: "Caleb Plant, Shawn Porter, Badou Jack, Mike McCallum, you know, some good names understood 'okay, you've got some ability.' Floyd Sr, after a while, was like 'okay, this UK guy that you're training, Jeff, he's all right'."

Then, an opportunity to meet Mike Tyson at his ranch in Southern California arose around the time he made his debut in Tijuana, Mexico.

"That was interesting," Riley says with a wry smile. "I met Mike on a calm day. So he was on a 'I'm older, wiser, let me give you some game' type thing.

"It was really good to be around him, have a conversation with him and just be somewhere like that. I'm only from Tottenham. You know, you don't expect to end up on Tyson's ranch in California.

"It's one of those moments that you look back on and you're like, yeah, that was me.

"Then my debut came, we didn't walk the streets too much, the street signs tell you not to. It just goes to show, man, you never know where you're going to end up. Really priceless experiences they were."

The latest stop on Riley's whirlwind journey takes him all the way back home, where Clarke, a man he's sparred a couple of times before, will be waiting for him with the British title around his waist.

Riley is a slight favourite with the bookies, but it's as close to a 50-50 the card will get, and both men have different styles in the ring.

While Clarke is likely to come out in search-and-destroy mode, Riley will have to use all of his back-foot boxing ability to neutralise his opponent's pressure.

With Lonsdale honours on the line, Riley is more than up for the moment he is positive he will own.

"Nothing's more important right now in my life than getting that victory," he says. "That's my genuine emotion about it. It's going to be very satisfying to hold the British title.

"Not everyone has the opportunity to fight for the British title or win one. So for me to get the opportunity, man, it means a lot. It really means a lot, and I have a very good opponent as well.

"No-one can say that I've got a touch to get the British title. Me becoming British champion with the opponent that I have, it's fully validated, and yeah, man, the moment will be mine."