Jack Draper has been handed a title eliminator fight in just his third bareknuckle boxing bout.

The Chatham cruiserweight has won his previous two BKB contests by way of knockout, but his third will be his toughest test yet.

He will face Mason Shaw at The O2 on March 30.

“This will be the hardest fight of my whole career,” said Draper, who turned his back on traditional boxing.

“Mason is very good but I’m 100% confident in my own ability.”

The winner of the fight will go on to fight for the British BKB Cruiserweight title.

Draper had been hoping to fight before the turn of the year, but suffered an injury to his knuckle following his previous outing, when he stopped opponent Greg Mayne inside a minute.

He had originally been set to go up against a different opponent but looked to be sitting this show out after injury forced his scheduled combatant to cancel.

So it was a surprise to then get the call to fight in this eliminator.

Draper said: “It looked like I was going to have to wait until June, but then they offered me this and I was like, ‘okay’!”.

He has been backed by local sponsors Chatham Town, DJC Cars, Tommy James Ltd and UKBC and that has helped fund his training and equipment.

Sparring has been with gloves in a bid to avoid any unnecessary injuries, training at the Unique Kickboxing Gym.

Tickets cost £40 and can be obtained by calling 07742 228565.