Bareknuckle boxer Mickey Parker's journey from 'little fat kid from Leigh Park' to competing for a world title this weekend

Now, incredibly, the Leigh Park bare-knuckle bruiser is gunning to be crowned a BKB world champion this weekend.

Parker, 39, admitted it's a rise which has left him 'pinching himself' along the way at where he finds himself today, a little more than five years after his first fight under the BKB association banner.

With his present position standing as British cruiserweight champion ahead of his world title showdown with belt holder and great friend, Bournemouth's Carl Hobley, at the 02 Indigo this Sunday, April 10.

In fact, Parker described himself as a 'little fat kid from Leigh Park' before he made it onto the BKB fight scene.

And having set the lofty goal of becoming British champion some years ago - but freely admitting he never felt he was good enough - that ambition is already in the bag with world honours up for grabs when he battles close pal Hobley across a gruelling seven-round title contest.

‘(For) Me, personally, I have to pinch myself everyday. To wake up and be living the dream and everyone saying to me, 'it's soon, it's soon (world title fight),’ said Parker.

‘I was just a little fat kid from Leigh Park, that's all I was – until you get something in life where you're actually inspired to do well and inspired to help people.

‘The amount of people who actually come up to me and say, 'oh, we've seen how well you're doing and we want to do well just like you're doing.’

‘It's absolutely crazy because I did - many, many years ago - I set myself the goal of the British title. I thought I wasn't good enough and wouldn’t even get a chance to do that.

‘The fact that now, I'm fighting seven rounds for a world title - seven rounds of bare-knuckle is amazing. It's massive for me to be fighting for it, but to actually lift it would be something I could only tell you about if I do it.’

For most, getting in the sparring rounds with an upcoming opponent would be viewed as a strange move - let in preparation for a world title bout.

But Parker says he's had no issues slogging it out with Hobley ahead of their 02 Indigo ding-dong in the past months leading up to their contest.

While the BKB cruiserweight British title holder also thanked his ardent Portsmouth following - with around 300 supporters from the city and surrounding areas expected to be in attendance for his shot at world glory - for their continued support throughout his journey in the sport.

Parker added: ‘We're really good friends, when I say really good friends, we met about five years ago and he come up to my gym, we were doing a bit of sparring and I got on really well with him (world title opponent Carl).

‘When it all arose (world title fight) we were both a sceptical, but we spar all the time, we punch each other in the face all the time and they're very, very good, competitive spars - Carl would say the same.

‘At the end of the day, to share the ring with a mate for a world title fight, it's going to be actually a privilege.’

He continued: ‘BKB has grown on Portsmouth massively. My journey was, I went down the unlicenced scene, I went there then the professional game gave me a chance with BKB.

‘Since then, I've lived the life of a pro. I'm training constantly - two to three hours a day - it's a brilliant, a brilliant thing to be involved in.

‘Locally, Portsmouth has got behind me so much, I sell as many tickets as most pro boys (boxers) who fight in the area. This event, actually, we're taking 300 people to the 02, which is one of the biggest sellers in BKB as it is, they've told me recently.’