Matty Tew has been urged to grab his big boxing chance with both hands this weekend.

The Southampton fighter has landed a wonderful opportunity as he features at a sold out O2 Arena in London against Tommy Martin in a light welterweight English title eliminator on Saturday night.

Tew has been working his way up the ladder hoping for a big time shot on a big time show and this is exactly that.

His trainer, Wayne Batten, said: “He has worked hard in the last five weeks but you’ve got to take a chance and that’s what this is.

“For what Matty is looking for and what he wants out of boxing this is the perfect chance for him.

“It’s a big Matchroom Promotions show and the right opponent to give him the chance to move on to the next level.

“Matty is 31 and he’s not going to get many more chances like this; sometimes you just have to go for it.

“I would have liked to have had more than five weeks’ notice but we have trained hard for this and really mixed up Matty’s sparring so he’s in good shape and ready for this.”

It is an intriguing contest and will pit youth against experience.

Tew has done the rounds with 14 wins from 16 fights as a pro to get to this stage.

At 20 years old Martin is 11 years younger than his opponent, but only has nine pro fights behind him.

The fight is likely to be in front of a decent crowd as excitement starts to build for the main event, which includes title fights for both Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua and Lee Selby.

“This is definitely a fight Matty can win,” reckoned Batten.

“The kid he’s facing is young but Matty has all the experience.

“If he was in there with a really hot prospect then maybe we might feel he was up against it but this is a winnable fight for him.

“The one thing you know with Matty is that he will give you 100 per cent and he’s not going to leave anything in the ring.

“He will give it everything so you know you’re going to get that and we will see where it takes us.”