Portsmouth's Mikey McKinson reveals why spicy weigh-in with Alex Martin got so heated ahead of his big American debut

The Pompey Problem and his American southpaw opponent for Saturday's Los Angeles Galen Centre showdown had to be pulled apart in a feisty pre-fight weigh-in.

A steely focused McKinson, 27, moved up close to Martin in the final face-off, with the pair giving each other a shove before proceeding to share some words in what proved a heated exchange.

The British fighter - with Martin his third scheduled different opponent for his American bow after Vergil Ortiz Jr's withdrawal because of illness and Mexican Jesus Antonio Perez coming in overweight - conceded it's been difficult dealing with the circumstances he's been faced with over the course of this week.

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And he insisted now is not the time for niceties as he prepares to become the first fighter from his city to contest a bout in the States, with the welterweight battle screened live on DAZN in the early hours of Sunday morning.

McKinson told The News: ‘This guy here (Alex Martin), he was one of the guys who called me out a few days ago - I had two choices, either fight this guy or pack my bags and go home.

‘It's been an up and down week, that's why things are getting fiery, there's no more playing nice.

‘At least I still get a fight, there's no more playing nice. It's been frustrating for me, I've said yes to probably six or seven names over the past four days, there was another pull out, another pull out and another pull out.’

McKinson, with an undefeated 21-0 pro record, says he's ready to show American fight fans he is a 'world-class' operator.

But he is under no illusions of the challenge he'll come up against when he meets fellow southpaw and Golden Boy Promotions' very own 17-3 man Martin.

McKinson added: ‘I'm in against a very, very tough fighter, he's a very, very tricky southpaw, obviously I haven't been preparing to fight a tricky southpaw with good movement, good, quick hands and stuff.

‘One thing I did prepare for is to come to America and show everyone I'm world class. Regardless of what fighter I'm fighting, a front-foot fighter, a back-foot fighter, this good prospect or this good prospect - I've got a Golden Boy prospect - I'm just going to show I'm world class and it doesn't matter what style I'm facing.’