Viddal Riley believes that he will have to beat Cheavon Clarke into submission if he is to become the British cruiserweight champion.

Riley, 12-0 (7 KOs), will challenge Clarke, 10-1 (7 KOs), for the famous Lonsdale Belt on the undercard of the massive middleweight grudge match between Chris Eubank Jr and Connor Benn on April 26th. DAZN will stream the event globally from London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Riley was a multi-time national champion as a junior and has coasted through the early stages of his professional career.

The 27 year-old has barely broken a sweat during his rise to English champion but by inking a contract to fight Clarke, he has signed up for an entirely different type of challenge. Riley admits that the thought of mixing with the explosive 2016 Olympian has shaken him out of his comfort zone.

“Chev's cool, man but this opportunity, it's gonna be a good fight,” Riley told Sky Sport’s Toe 2 Toe podcast, the excitement clear in his voice. “It's gonna be a good fight.

“It's like why people go to Thorpe Park [a famous British theme park]. You have that thrill-seeking side of you where you're like, ‘Oh, I'm gonna go on this [ride],’ and I feel the same about this fight.

“It's a challenging fight. It's a fight that not everyone's just gonna assume I'm gonna win. I’m not going to just go in there and batter him. There's challenges that are gonna be faced but I'm extremely confident I'll overcome it.”

This time last year, facing Clarke would have been seen as a step too far for the talented but relatively untested Riley but in perception at least, the gap has closed considerably.

Clarke started last year on a tear. In January he blew through Tommy McCarthy and then picked apart Ellis Zorro to become the British champion.

Things suddenly got tougher for the 34 year old. In August he was hurt during a majority decision win over Efetobor Apochi and then had to pick himself up off the floor during a split decision defeat to the dangerous Leonardo Mosquera in a vacant European title fight.

Injury has prevented Riley from capitalising on last March’s English title win over Mikael Lawal but he has been working in the gym and has taken positives from Clarke’s recent struggles. Although Apochi and, in particular, Mosquera, are dangerous operators, they have proven that with the right approach and tactics, Clarke can be beaten.

Riley is an excellent technical fighter who is adept at plotting his way to victory. He has studied Clarke’s fight with Mosquera and recognised a difficult - but passable - route to victory.

“You have to take into account it happened. You can't completely dismiss it, because things that were shown in his last fight, we've seen in fights before,” he said.

“There’s times where it's a one-off, so you can't take much from it. But once a pattern is created it wouldn't be wise to not connect some dots.

“But I do anticipate improvement from his last fight. He was in a tough fight. He overcame a tough first round, boxed his way all the way to the end and a close defeat.

“Chev has shown that he's got skill. He's shown that he can adjust, he has the endurance, the mentality to not fold when things are rough and that always makes for a tough fight because the person is not there to just give in. You have to beat them to submission and that creates a tough fight.”