Prospects need to tick off various milestones as they progress through the early stages of their careers.

Junaid Bostan, 8-0 (6 KOs) had already moved from fighting four rounds to six and from six to eight when, last December, the 22-year-old from Rotherham put a big check mark in the bravery box.

Bostan travelled to America to gain some invaluable experience by boxing on the undercard of his stablemate Sunny Edwards’ flyweight unification fight with Jesse Rodriguez, but after an entire week of conflict, his eight-rounder with Gordie Russ took on a life of its own. 

Bostan won a deserved decision but the wide scorecards didn’t tell the story of the fight. ‘Star Boy’ got involved in a real scrap.

“It was a trip full of lessons, inside and outside the ring. I’ve been there, done that and I’m ready to show the lessons I learned at the weekend,” said Bostan, who fights Jack Martin in Liverpool on Saturday night.

“Everybody talks about pressure but nobody puts more pressure on me than I do myself because I’m a perfectionist. I want to look good and I want to perform and I want to win by any means necessary. That’s what I want to do on Saturday, with flying colours.”

Bostan sees the fight with Martin as the ideal final step before he hits the title trail. 

“I’m looking forward to putting a good performance in and getting a tip closer to the English title and getting my first strap. Jack Martin is a tough man and on a good run but there’s levels and I’m ready to show that,” he said.

“The way I’m getting hyped up and the way I’m talking about myself, I want bigger and better things. I know Lee Cutler’s got the English title at the moment. Whether he vacates or not, I’ll fight whoever wins the eliminator for it. I’m here for it all.”

Martin, 9-1 (4 KOs), is no stranger to finding his way through adversity himself. In December, his Southern Area championship war with CJ Challenger made a late bid to scoop Fight of The Year honours. Martin won an outstanding battle in the eighth round, taking Challenger’s unbeaten record and earning himself this slot on a major televised card. 

Logic would dictate that the experienced Martin will set out to drag Bostan into another dogfight but the 29-year-old wants to be known for more than getting involved in crowd-pleasing brawls and he seems to have realised that Bostan will want to box and avoid repeating the mistakes he made against Russ.

“I’m here to project myself on a big level. I want to prove that I’m here and prove that I deserve to be here.” Martin said. “I didn’t have a great amateur pedigree and I’ve worked extremely hard on the small hall shows. I’ve been an underdog time and time again and proved so many people wrong and proved that I deserve to be here on this big stage.

“I’ve been working a lot smarter in the gym this camp. I know that I can do that due to my natural heart. I can go to deep waters and I know that I can handle myself there. Junaid isn’t going to get dragged into that. He’s a smart fighter and I have the utmost respect for him. It’s about being smarter and I’m realising that I can fight and box.”