“This is the important stuff, mate,” says a stone-faced Jack Rafferty.

He is due to get married in three weeks but don’t tell his bride that Rafferty only has eyes for Mark Chamberlain at present.

“I’ve been tunnel visioning for this for a long time,” he adds, of the fight and not the wedding. “It should have been on a couple of dates, this fight, but what better way is there to be but headlining, me and Mark, live on DAZN under Frank Warren.”

Asked about his upcoming nuptials, knowing he could be showing up with cuts, black eyes, and any of the other ailments from his profession, Rafferty explains: “Like I said, I'll think about that, that other stuff, afterwards. My main concern is doing what I’m supposed to do on Saturday night.” 

There has been nothing but respect between the 26-0 (17 KOs) Rafferty and his Portsmouth opponent. 

Rafferty, from Shaw in Lancashire, has been handed nothing in his career and earned everything.

He rose up through the small halls before getting his big break, and he’s survived a fight or two in the blue corner and won, too.

It’s been well-documented how his late mother bequeathed him some money, which he spent on bringing in opponents so he could continue his education and rise in the ring.

Rafferty is a full-time fighter. After qualifying as an electrician and banking a trade to fall back on, he focused on boxing.
What followed was 23 fights in the small halls, and plenty of moments when he felt like it would never be worth his while.

“My dad said, ‘Keep at it, son, your time will come,’” recalls Rafferty.

“‘Keep training, one day at a time, and your time will come.’ And I just listened to him, and I believed him. I listened to [trainer] Steve [Maylett] and listen to Steve, you won’t go far wrong. And that’s what I've done. Yeah, two years ago, probably definitely not [he would have believed where he is now]. But the work that I’ve put in my career… but what cemented my career for the last, 24-plus months ago of solid hard work, has probably come since I lost my mum. I promised my mum that I’d be a champion. So I’m going to keep that promise. You can use pain as a bit of pride and something to push you towards something, so you can take something good out of every bad. And that’s what I’m going to do. And like I said, I will be a champion.”

There were other avenues for Rafferty. He was a super-fit midfielder, playing soccer at a high level although, he confesses, he was not as good as his brother Thomas, a goalkeeper who followed Jack into boxing.

Jack doesn’t play any longer because of the risk of injury, but he is going into Saturday’s fight with Chamberlain knowing there is a chance of that, too.

Fireworks are anticipated.

“Definitely,” Rafferty agreed. “A man who can punch against another man who can punch.

“It’s going to be fireworks in there. He’s got dynamite in his hands; I have in mine. So, you know it’s going to be good.”

And although Rafferty boxed only one left-hander in the amateurs, Chamberlain will be his third southpaw opponent in four fights.

Chamberlain told BoxingScene earlier this week that Rafferty is the best opponent he has faced, and Rafferty affords his opponent that same courtesy.

“100 per cent, definitely,” Rafferty concurs. “This is my hardest fight and maybe I can speak for him, it’s got to be his hardest fight. [There’s] plenty on the line, British, Commonwealth titles, [but it’s] not just what’s on the line, it’s what's next. Big things are coming next. One fight at a time, one good round at a time and I’ll be getting the job done.”

That was how he looked at the fork-in-the-road fight with Henry Turner last year, a thriller that saw Rafferty upset the then 13-0 Turner.

“I’m not ashamed to say, Henry Turner started the Jack Rafferty train off properly,” Rafferty admits. “He backed himself to beat me and that’s what I needed, a massively credible opponent in Henry, a man who’s coming to win with plenty on the line, which there was.

“I come out victorious, very well, it was the start of the making of Jack Rafferty. Coming then into Reece MacMillan, Cory O’Regan, then pushing on to Mark Chamberlain, things are going well. I’ve stayed grounded, I’ve stuck in the gym. It’s been a very busy 12 months and I’ll be looking to polish off a great 12 months in that ring on Saturday night.”

Despite his success, no corners are being cut.

His work capacity has seen his resting heart rate drop to 31 beats per minute, an indicator of supreme fitness, and he happily banks more than nine hours of sleep a night to recover from training. He uses a Whoop band to monitor his sleep, recovery, and activity levels.

But there have been injuries. His progress has been hampered by them, and it has caused spells of inactivity having broken his hand, broken his foot and taken stitches in fights.

“That momentum, every fighter needs it,” the 29-year-old explains.

“You can’t progress in boxing fighting once or twice a year. You can go through the motions in sparring, this, that. You need to be fighting, you know? Fighting, that’s where you learn, properly learn. So yeah, the momentum is definitely on my side, which I’m carrying with me. “It’s been a great 12 plus months from the Sabari [Jaishankar] fight, going on to Henry Turner, Reece MacMillan, Cory O’Regan, you know, Mark Chamberlain on Saturday night. “The momentum, you need it and I’m carrying it with me.”

It is worth pointing out, too, that MacMillan was 17-1 and O’Regan 14-0. 

Chamberlain is 17-1.

Former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan is part of Rafferty’s team, too, working on cuts.

It has been quite the journey for Rafferty, from the small halls to seeing his likeness as the bill-topper on the fight posters for DAZN.

“It’s a bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment,” he admits. “But I know why I am there, because I’ve worked hard. I’ve worked my socks off. [I’ve] not been a brilliant amateur and fell into a great promoter and they put me there, or I sell thousands of tickets and they put me there. “I’ve worked hard for it, properly hard, from nothing, eventually making it into something in a way of headlining Frank Warren, live on DAZN.

“I’m proud of it, not satisfied with it in a way, because I’m always striving for better and more. A great win over Mark Chamberlain Saturday night and, one fight at a time, but I’m looking to do good things. Like I said, Mark Chamberlain next, win that British outright at Christmas, and the rest is history. Let’s see where it can go, this is what we’re in it for. You want to test yourself against the big names. It’s not about having a mega record, it’s seeing what you’re made of, seeing what you can achieve. Can these top-level, elite-level fighters bring something else out in you? Mark Chamberlain next. Other questions that I can get answered after that, maybe win that British outright before Christmas and let’s see what Jack Rafferty can do at 140-pounds.”

But after Chamberlain is the small matter of him getting married to his partner of nine years in three weeks’ time, on Wednesday, September 10.

“She’s great,” Rafferty smiles, his mind off the job for a moment. “I got this apartment in Manchester two years ago, probably been home five, six weeks out of that. She lets me do my thing. I’m not trying to make a better life for me, I’m trying to make a better life for her, [and] kids, if God blesses us with some kids… Make a better life for them. I do her proud, she does me proud. Credit to her because a lady who’s getting married, I’ve not sorted a thing out about the wedding. I’m away for weeks and weeks and weeks [training] and she just lets me do my thing because I’m living my dream.”

Their relationship had started innocuously when Rafferty approached Megan at a meal with friends and later messaged: “I’m having a party at my house.”

“All right, how many are going?” she replied.

“Just you.”

They’ve been together since.

“She ended up with an absolute diamond, a British, Commonwealth champion as well,” he grins.

But, the “important stuff” comes first.