The 28-year-old Brit will defend his WBO super middleweight title against Simon Zachenhuber on Saturday night on the Anthony Joshua-Kristian Prenga undercard at Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, streamed live to DAZN Ultimate subscribers and via pay-per-view to non-subscribers.

Zachenhuber (29-1, 18 KOs) lost a six-rounder on points to Pawel August (19-0, 7 KOs) on April 11 in London before beating Armin Ajrulai by technical knockout after four rounds June 28 in Cologne, Germany. The 28-year-old German contender has also never fought an elite-level opponent, nor has he participated in a 12-round fight.

As a result, Sheeraz continues to be chastised. However, the newly crowned champion believes he has a good reason for fighting someone on the level of Zachenhuber.

“I’m staying active, staying ready,” Sheeraz told The Ring. “I had a couple of days off after the last fight [May 23] and then I was straight back into camp again. Just showing that I truly live a champion’s lifestyle.”

In addition to staying fit, Sheeraz (23-0-1, 19 KOs), who stopped Alem Begic in the second round to win the vacant WBO title, wants to avoid the inactivity bug.

“That’s one of the reasons why I took this fight,” Sheeraz continued. “I was out of the ring for so long, the comeback fight lasted 1½ rounds, and then I got the opportunity to fight again. I didn’t fight for 10-11 months before that, so it’s nice to stay active and build up all of that momentum again.”

Sheeraz beat Begic almost nine weeks ago, on the Oleksandr Usyk-Rico Verhoeven undercard at Pyramids of Giza in Giza, Egypt. The Ring’s No. 9-ranked super middleweight doesn’t see the problem with facing lesser opposition because this is such a quick turnaround.

For those who do have an issue with it, he simply wants you to take a look at his resume, particularly when he fought Edgar Berlanga a year ago.

“When I took the Berlanga fight, they were saying it was too much too soon,” Sheeraz said. “And now I have the opportunity to stay busy and stay active. It’s like they want you to take continuous back-to-back hard fights, which I don’t mind to be fair. My world title fight was meant to be against Diego Pacheco, but he didn’t want it, so you fight the next in line.”

In one of the biggest nights of his life, Sheeraz made it look easy against Berlanga, stopping him in the fifth round at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

Sheeraz and Pacheco were mandated to fight for the vacant WBO title several months later. However, Pacheco (26-0, 19 KOs) admitted that he wasn’t ready for their bout and withdrew from the purse bid process.

The 25-year-old Los Angeles native stopped Immanuwel Aleem (22-5-3, 14 KOs) in the 11th round Saturday night. He said afterward that he is ready to take on all comers.

In the end, whether it’s Pacheco, his mandatory challenger, Jacob Bank, or a higher-profile fighter, Sheeraz expects his next bout to be against a quality opponent. Interestingly, Denmark’s Bank (19-0, 11 KOs) will fight the Polish-born, England-based August (19-0, 7 KOs) on the Joshua-Prenga undercard.

“I’m sure after this there will be a big one,” Sheeraz said. “I reckon I’ll hopefully get a unification or my mandatory, Jacob Bank, will be ordered and that’s a good fight as well.”