IPSWICH, England — Fabio Wardley has rejected claims that experienced amateur Justis Huni is simply the better boxer than him.

The pair meet at Ipswich Town’s Portman Road on Saturday night live on DAZN in a fight between two men with wildly different boxing backgrounds.

Wardley famously never threw a punch as an amateur and instead turned professional following just four white collar fights. Huni, meanwhile, was born into boxing and told The Ring that he used to fake his age to box as an amateur when he was just eight years old.

Saturday night’s fight, therefore, has been billed as a clear showdown between a big-punching wildcard and a polished, pure boxer.

But at Thursday’s final press conference, Wardley said: “I don’t agree that I’m in with a better boxer.

“Maybe if you compare his amateur record to my four white-collar fights then maybe they might look a bit different, but we're not in amateur boxing anymore. This isn't an amateur ring. These aren't amateur rules.

“It's not amateur gloves. This is real full-fledged heavyweight professional boxing. And in that realm, I'm more experienced, I'm more devastating and I've got all the attributes that have carried me through and have brought me through to winning. So in that particular area, I don't concede either.

“I don't think he's got the better IQ than me or the better boxing ability than me, not in this ring. I’ve heard it all before and that's all I've got in my career. It's done me well so far, so it might not do me too bad going forward and going into this fight.

"But it's nothing new for me; the standard talk of me not having an amateur background and me being inexperienced in that sense. Me not having the boxing know-how or the boxing IQ to bring in the ring on the night, but I haven't been defeated yet.

"I've come across star-studded amateurs, Olympians and Olympic medallists and all sorts. So, I don't know where exactly these two things mesh up and I'm supposed to slip up and things are supposed to go wrong because they haven't yet.”

Australian Huni (12-0, 7 KOs), who took the fight on four weeks’ notice following the withdrawal of the injured Jarrell Miller, has spent five years as a professional. Oddsmakers have set him as a reasonably clear underdog, with most places offering better than 2/1 on him just to win the fight.

Much of the pre-fight perceived wisdom has been that the visitor will arrive at a raucous Portman Road and attempt to stay out of trouble against the big-punching favourite and instead look to box his way to a decision.

But Huni countered: “There definitely won’t be any running — it’s just boxing. Boxing is about being smart.

“Fabio, I’m going to come in there, box smart and give you a boxing lesson. So, yeah, I hope you come prepared because I can’t wait to share the ring with you.”