Heavyweights Johnny Fisher and Alen Babic faced off today at the launch press conference at Matchroom HQ in Brentwood, Essex, England, ahead of their July 6 clash at the Copper Box Arena in London – shown live worldwide on DAZN.

Alen Babic: “Thank you for having me everybody it’s so beautiful to be here. Listen, Johnny Fisher I think is a great fighter, but I think he is a young fighter. I had 100 amateur fights, most of them were tougher than me and him both. I had 12 professional fights; I was tested so many times. I was tested so many times. I went through all of them, almost – all but one.

“This is his first test… and I remember when I had my first test. It was my third bout against Shawndell (Winters). You were there, and you were telling me that you’re not going to be able to do this it’s a 50-50 fight. I was there and I’m at least five years into this testing and stuff. I know what it brings. That’s why I said yes to this fight, and I feel like it’s a present from God for me.

“I have 13 years of fighting at elite level. I was one fight away from the Olympics so I meet strong men every day of my life. Strong punchers, power punchers, big men. I’ve fought them all and been through them all, I know what to expect. He wasn’t. That’s the point of it. He wasn’t there. 13 years of fighting. He is a very young man. I think he was about ten years old then. Since then, I have been fighting big strong punchers. Don’t talk about big strong punchers like they’re something new to me.

“It’s amazing and I know it’s going to be hostile so listen, I want everybody to know I am the underdog in this fight. F**k the favourites. I am the underdog. I was the favourite for one fight, it was the worst fight of my life, and it almost destroyed me. I was one year into depression. It almost threw everything off. I am a big underdog in this fight.

“I didn’t ask about the money; I didn’t ask about nothing. He knows and Dillian knows, I just said yes. I feel like it’s a present from God. But, on the other hand I feel like it’s the perfect fight for Johnny also. It’s a big step up and a big test. He’s got to have tests. This is his first big test. I’m going to drown him. I know how to drown a guy. I have my confidence back.”

Johnny Fisher: “It’s extremely exciting Eddie. I’m very excited. As you said, lots of people coming, but that means nothing to me. Me and Alen, we’re going to get in the ring and we’re going to have a proper tear up. We talk about Alen saying he’s the underdog in this fight, well you’re talking about 13 years of experience. You’re talking about 10 years’ experience as an amateur, 100 fights. It sounds like you think you’re the favourite in this fight. For me, the one thing you’ve got to realise is, it’s not about me having to fight Alen Babic, it’s about you having to fight Johnny Fisher.

“If you’re in the sport of boxing and you care about what people think and what people say then you’re not in the right sport. Look of Tyson Fury, look at Anthony Joshua, look at Oleksandr Usyk. You’re going to get criticism from every angle. What matters is, you’ve got a team around you and you’ve got belief in yourself. Self-belief is something that I’m never going to be short of.

“I’ve definitely got the power; we’ve seen that before. But if we go to the trenches, that’s what I believe I’ve got inside me. You can train as much as you want in the gym. You’ve got to have that inside you. That’s a mentality that you’re born with, no matter what background you’re from. I’ve got that mentality.

“Every fight the intensity goes up. The standard you hold yourself to goes up as you get better as a fighter. As their team said, this is the right time now. It is going to be absolutely bouncing in the CopperBOSH. It’s going to be absolutely brilliant and that will only make me rise to the occasion. I’ve been there before, Ally Pally, The O2, me and Alen fought on the same card at The O2. We fought here (Matchroom HQ). The respect is there. The respect demands the best performance from me, and that’s what he’s going to get.”