Appleby: I will pick off Esham

Appleby: younger legs

I think I will have a little bit too much for him. I have got the younger legs and I want it more than him.

Paul Appleby
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APPLEBY v PICKERING
British featherweight title
Live on Friday Fight Night
10.00pm, Fri, Sky Sports 1

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British featherweight champion Paul Appleby insists his superior speed and hunger will be too much for experienced challenger Esham Pickering on Friday night.

Appleby defends his title at Glasgow's Bellahouston Leisure Centre for the first time since beating fellow Scot John Simpson, live on Sky Sports 1 from 8pm.

The 21-year-old was subsequently named Britain's Best Young Boxer of the Year and is determined to enhance his reputation with a comprehensive stoppage victory over Pickering.

Newark-based boxer Pickering, 32, has fought in more than a dozen title bouts and held super-bantamweight belts at European, Commonwealth and British level.

But Appleby is typically confident that he will extend his unbeaten professional record in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

"He has had an unbelievable amount of title fights, so experience does count for something," he said.

Unanimous

"But I think I will have a little bit too much for him. I have got the younger legs and I want it more than him.

"As soon as I get the ring, I know what I am going to do. I'm ready to do 12 rounds if I need to, but I think I can stop him, hopefully in the middle rounds.

"I feel just as confident as the last time. I knew I could win the last fight and I know I can win this fight."

Pickering has lost four of his last nine encounters and saw his British super-bantamweight belt slip from his grasp with a unanimous points defeat to Matthew Marsh in June.

But he believes he can make his experience tell as he bids to maintain a proud record against Scottish boxers.

"I've been up here twice, I stopped Michael Deveney in eight rounds back in 1997 and I knocked out Brian Carr in July 2003," he said.

"I've never lost to a Scottish fighter, amateur or pro, and that's in 90 fights. This is a bigger challenge and I'm well up for it."

Massive

Pickering is also confident that his experience in hostile atmospheres such as Dublin, Madrid and north-east England will stand him in good stead.

"That doesn't faze me, I've just got to turn up and if I do that, I will win easily," he said.

"I've been in Hartlepool, that was more hostile than Dublin. It's not a massive venue but they will be rooting for their man.

"But I'm well and truly up for it - a ring is a ring. It can be in a sparring ring in Sheffield or Glasgow, wherever, I'm ready."

Pickering was hit by a missile after defending his European title against Miguel Mallon in Madrid so he is prepared for anything.

"I got a coin in the face after I knocked him out in the 10th round," he added. "I'm sure the Scottish fans won't react like that, but if I've got the belt and a coin hits me in the face, I don't care."