Tumi Phillips won’t be taking journeyman Christian Lopez Flores lightly when they meet in the ring on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Chatham super lightweight is making his second professional appearance and is ready for a tough challenge - one he’s keen on having at the start of a journey he hopes ends with a world title.

Mexican Flores had lost 49 (five KOs) of his 65 professional bouts but he’s no pushover with 14 wins - 12 by knockout.

Phillips said: “He’s a good, tough opponent and he rarely ever gets stopped.

“He’s been around and boxed all the top prospects in the country. His resume is crazy and if he sniffs an opportunity he will give it a go.

Phillips made his pro debut in September with a 59-54 points win over Stefan Vincent at the Brentwood Centre in Essex - the same venue he’ll be appearing at this weekend.

He described it as an “okay performance” post-fight. Since then, he’s had chance to reflect and seen how his beaten opponents has come out fighting.

Phillip said: “After my fight, he fought a former British and commonwealth champion (Liam Dillon) who was champion only two fights before. He fought him after me and that was only one round off a draw.

“In hindsight, it was a better performance than I gave myself credit for.”

Phillips, a postal delivery worker, has had the week off to complete preparations for this fight. It’s been a solid camp but he admits there was a scare a few weeks back.

He said: “I had a chest infection about four weeks ago, which wasn’t ideal, so that put me out for a week. But somehow, I came back and I was firing on all cylinders.”

Phillips does plenty of driving, not only in his day job, but getting to and from the gym he fights out of in Essex under the tutelage of Kevin Lilley.

The former Howard School pupil is just at the start of his pro career - having had 30 amateur bouts before - but he’s confident of reaching the top.

He said: “The goal is to be a world champion and I have no doubt in my ability.

“In my interview with the boxing board, they asked my coach what do they see for my future?’ He said he’d be surprised if I wasn’t at least a British champion. That’s the sort of thing that you want to hear.

“World champion is definitely the goal and I believe I've got the ability to do that.

“I crammed it in as much as I could a an amateur after starting as an 18-year-old.

“Obviously there was two years out because of Covid, but I didn’t do too bad.

“I won a couple of regional and county titles. Of course, you get some rough decisions and so on that prevented me from boxing on the national stage. But I’ve boxed multiple national champions and beat them so it wasn’t anything I wasn’t capable of.”

Saturday’s ‘Statement 2’ show is broadcast live on DAZN and is set to feature fellow Chatham boxer Grant Dennis (18-8).

The former Southern Area middleweight champion and WBO European title challenger has lost his last four fights and comes up against Mancunian Josh Cook, an opponent with just one win on his record and 44 defeats.