At this point, Avious Griffin doesn’t just want a step up, he needs it.

For as rough as life treated him outside of the ring growing up, things have been incredibly easy inside of it. Maybe too easy.

Last month in New York’s Sony Hall, BoxingInsider Promotions threw Griffin in the headliner. A bombastic crowd rose to its feet when the 31-year-old bulldozed the normally durable Jose Luis Sanchez, stopping him in the eighth round to win the vacant WBC USA welterweight strap.

That secondary title will now used as bait in his attempt to lure Mario Barrios, the WBC’s full champion, to the ring.

There won’t be any trash talk used in order to get Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs) to notice him. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t wrap his head around bad-mouthing him. With the amount of respect Griffin (17-0, 16 KOs) has for him, standing across from The Ring’s No. 3 ranked welterweight would simply be an honor.

“He’s a good fighter,” Avious told The Ring recently. “He been around the game for a while. I would love to get in there with him.”

Last year wasn’t a memorable one for the 29-year-old. He didn’t look sharp in his unanimous decision win over Fabian Maidana in May. And he looked flat-out unimpressive in his split decision draw against Abel Ramos a few months later.

Although he might be vulnerable, Griffin doesn’t want to rush things. He also doesn’t want to skip any steps. So before he goes banging on the door of Barrios, Griffin is hoping to up his competition just a bit more.

“I would like a big name. Maybe an ex-world champion. Somebody that would get me a little more credit. Anybody I gotta fight to get over that little extra hump, I’m all for it. Hopefully I can land somebody.”