At one point in his career John Ryder (28-4, 16 KOs) was training just to lose weight.

The love for boxing had gone at one point during his time at middleweight, the division he began his career at which he would then campaign in for six years. An impressive win against Eamonn O’Kane, a narrow loss against Billy Joe Saunders compiled with a shock defeat against Nick Blackwell were all part of a mixed bag at British level that looked like being thrown in a bin marked unfulfilled potential.

A move up to super middleweight has left him feeling fresh and revitalised and kicked off with a competent win over big punching Adam Etches in February 2017. Just as he dipped his feet in the waters at 168lbs he found himself back on the outside drying off after a split decision loss to Rocky Fielding which was Ryder’s third attempt at trying to win a British title. The 31-year-old hung in there though and six months later started a run of four wins, inside the distance, which began with his dismantling of former WBA number one contender Patrick Nielsen. That saw his form snowball into the best of his career and now sees him one victory away from becoming a world champion.

“This would be 15-16 years of hard work, ups and downs, highs and lows, tears and smiles. It all comes down to this one fight,” Ryder said when Boxing Scene asked him how much it would mean to beat super middleweight boss Callum Smith on Saturday night in Liverpool for the WBA world title.

After plenty of long conversations with trainer Tony Sims, who has drilled tons of belief into him, Ryder now stands with his head high and chest out. He knows he can compete at a high level and the penny dropped after moving up in weight.

“I was still growing into the weight then I had that fight against Rocky Fielding, which I truly believe I won, then came the Nielsen fight,” Ryder recalled. “The time in between the Fielding and Nielsen fights we worked on a lot at the gym, me and Tony spent time together and spoke a lot.

“This game is very physical but it’s a whole lot mental. To conquer that, that’s the main battle. The miles on the road, all the rounds in the gym, if you’re not right in your head it’s all done for nothing.”

A John Ryder reborn, even with his highlight reel wins over Nielsen, Jamie Cox, Andrey Sirotkin and Bilal Akkawy (one the undercard of Canelo v Daniel Jacobs), is not without its doubters. Many still don’t believe he can be a legitimate threat eight pounds north of his original weight. Too small, doesn’t hit hard enough and perhaps not world level in the eyes of those who give him chances of slim and none for Saturday night. He is a huge 7/1 underdog, with Smith a long odds-on shot at 1/14. Ryder, as you would expect, pays no attention to the negatives. He does, however, feels he’s even overlooked and you sense maybe even disrespected in some quarters judging by his exasperation when he said: “I’m being massively overlooked. There’s all this talk about (Callum Smith fighting at) Anfield next year, rightly so, he’s the champion, they’ve got plans in place but come on I’m a live opponent!

“I know I’ve got defeats on my record but I’m coming off a brilliant run of form. I feel better than I ever have in my career. I’ve shown resolve. If they want to overlook me then so be it. I’m coming there to win and I’m coming to upset the apple cart. My confidence is sky high, my self belief is sky high. I’m loving boxing again.”

Plans are afoot for Smith to be one half of a mega-fight next summer which will most certainly define the super middleweight stage of his career in some form and enhance his legacy, whether that’s in a stadium or not. But on Saturday he is facing a mandatory challenger who is hitting peak form and perhaps isn’t as war torn as Smith’s previous two opponents, George Groves and Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, possibly were.

“I believe I’m at my best,” Ryder said. “Callum Smith will be at his best now. Take nothing away from George Groves he was a quality (world) champion. I think the fight with (Chris) Eubank Jr took a lot of out of Groves, I don’t know how bad his shoulder injury was but at the end of the day Callum got him out of there in style. There was just a point in the fight when he went out there and put him to bed. No questions asked, no close calls, no controversy, he beat him well.

“We’re going up against a world champion and a quality champion at that. My trainer has trained world champions before so it’s time to level up. I always train hard but there’s an extra bit between my teeth for the ultimate goal of becoming a world champion. I’m going to take away his crown.”