From the time he was six, soccer would have to do. He made a go of it as well, becoming a decent schoolboy player but the temptation was too great. The forbidden intrigues and having a bragging friend only added to the frustration.

"I always wanted to go boxing but my mother would never let me. She never knew anything about it really but she always used to say this and it rightly caught me in the face. Muhammad Ali was the best fighter ever in a lot of people's minds and look what happened to him. It's not Parkinson's Disease. It's boxing that has left him like that.

She always said that and there's nothing I can say, is there? He's not in a good way.

She's got a point.

"But the gym was quite near to me in Newark and it was only open three times a week. I used to play football and get a trophy at the end of the year. But my friend, he boxed and he used to get one every fight. And he was losing. So I thought I like watching this, and when I was 15 I snook down. In the beginning she didn't know. She might have had an inkling in hindsight but I never told her and she never said anything. But most parents really don't like their kids boxing. It's the only game where you can legally get killed. It's a tough way to earn a living."

At the beginning he had no idea of the pounding blows in waiting. Within two years he became a national amateur champion and boxed for Young England. In four-anda-half years he was never put to the canvas once. It was then he went to Brendan Ingle in Sheffield and within 15 months of turning pro he had a British featherweight title fight against JonJo Irwin.

"I was too young, but you learn from that. You have to.

Bernard's [Dunne] got this perfect record and he's been managed well but I've gone about things differently. I've taken the blows. I've been there fighting for world belts.

I've been European champion before [Pickering defeated Vincenzo Gigliotti for the European crown in 2004 before relinquishing it to Michael Hunter last year] and every time I've lost or won, I've picked up something to take with me. Back in 2002 I fought Mauricio Martinez [for the WBO Bantamweight crown]. It was ridiculous to meet the weight and I got caught cold early and that was that. I've never been on the floor amateur or pro, that was the only time.

He was a big puncher to be fair, but 10 months after that I went over to New York on a break with a friend and he was in Gleeson's Gym. I sparred with him five rounds and I had no problem with him. But again it was a great learning curve.

"And there was the Michael Hunter fight last year and I had a lot of things going on in my life, personal things that I never want to go back into. I thought I got it but it was all set up for Hunter to win. It was on Sky Sports, the whole team was behind him, it was all Michael Hunter. I wouldn't have argued with the draw but a lot of people said that I won. But that's life. I won the fight and that wasn't me that was in there that night. But that's all just excuses. You can't do that. The fight Bernard will get is a different fight."

At 30, Pickering admits it will be the defining fight of his career. He's never reached the potential they used to say he had. He's always been the one travelling, always been the one scraping together purses. As Commonwealth Super-Bantamweight champion, a title he won in 2003, he had to work on the side to support himself. He worked in a shop nearby, then tried cleaning to help get by.

"That kept my feet on the ground. But I'm a European class fighter and I believe I can win a world title. On the top of my game I don't see why not. It's been a long career and I've never reached where I wanted. Now I need to get there. This fight will be good money. I've got two children so I'm fighting for a living and their living. This is going to be the fight that can make my life. I'm expecting it tough but I'm expecting to win."

Esham Pickering a twotime European champion?

What would his mother make of that?