The Spaniard, who claimed the vacant belt with a fifth-round stoppage of Armando Casamonica on November 22, is excited about his upcoming fight against his Dutch rival.

"He is his country's champion and is facing the opportunity of a lifetime," Fernandez (28-3, 23 KOs) told The Ring. "He will surely try to win by any means necessary.

"Bilal is left-handed, which always makes fights more difficult, but I'm sure I'll put on a great show and win before the end. It will be a great fight."

'Jonfer' refutes any notions that he could have faced a stronger opponent.

"No opponent should be underestimated," he warned. "Besides, I've already had my next official challenger, Charlomagne Metonyekpon. I've had three tough fights, and don't think my career has been exactly easy. Neither Dalton Smith nor Pierce O'Leary wanted to face me [when they were champion], so I think this is the right one."

The 30-year-old who hails from the Basque country in northern Spain, welcomes the opportunity to once again entertain his fans.

"Bilbao is the boxing capital of Spain," he said. "People thought that interest would wane when [former European welterweight champion] Kerman [Lejarraga] retired, but it continues to be very strong.

"The atmosphere is always hellish for opponents, and you can feel the heat from the crowd. I get very excited about fighting in my city."

Meanwhile his promoter Oscar Zardain of PCI Promotions, has a clear plan from which he hopes to manoeuvre Fernandez towards a world title shot.

"After Somay, we will defend the title against the official challenger [Metonyekpon], and I sincerely hope that the WBC will take these two defenses into account and allow us to compete in a world title eliminator," he said.

Fernandez currently sits No. 7 in the sanctioning body's rankings.

"I have a lot of faith in the WBC, and it is my only hope of facing big names, as none of them want to fight Jonfer. If this does not happen, we will continue to defend the European championship. It has taken us a lot to win this belt, and we are not going to give it up so easily."

Bilal (18-1, 6 KOs) has been a professional since 2014. He built up much of his early career in his native Netherlands.

After running his record to 13-0, he tasted defeat for the first time when losing a 10-round decision away in Belgium against Surik Petrosyan. The 33-year-old southpaw returned home and has won five lower-level fights to land this opportunity.