DAZN will stream the fight from Utilita Arena Sheffield.

Padley (18-1, 6 KOs) shot to prominence in February of 2025 when he answered a short notice call and flew out to Saudi Arabia to box pound-for-pound star, Shakur Stevenson, for his WBC lightweight title. Although he was stopped in the ninth round, Padley received plenty of praise for his effort and was also extremely well rewarded for his exertions.

Rather than dining out on the whole experience for the rest of his career, the 30-year-old from Armthorpe used the night as a springboard.

Sharing the ring with a top level lightweight persuaded him that he would be better served by campaigning at 130 pounds and although he wasn’t at his best when scraping past Reece Bellotti in October, he looked extremely impressive when taking out Jaouad Belmehdi in two rounds to win the European title in January.

Padley has no intention of plateauing now.

“I need to keep building,” he said at Thursday’s final press conference.

“I've always said that I'd love to get back to a world title opportunity, given a full training camp given a bit more than four days notice and the way that I do that is to keep winning, keep progressing. We’ve picked up three titles with Matchroom, now it's a chance to defend a title — my first time doing that as a professional — so I’m looking forward to that experience.”

Earlier this year, Padley was linked to a fight with two-time world featherweight champion, Josh Warrington, but with "The Leeds Warrior" still undecided on his future following his January defeat to Leigh Wood, he instead faces Fiaz (14-1, 2 KOs).

Many will overlook the 26-year-old from Oldham but Padley is in no mood to give up his title now.

“I think experience, “ he said when asked what will be the deciding factor this weekend.

“What I've been around and who I've been in the ring with. Who I've overcome. I don't think Fiaz brings that himself. Don’t get me wrong this is a massive opportunity for him so on his past performances, I’d expect him to be better than than ever before because he'd be a fool if he did cut any corners.

“I’m a strong believer that I'm at levels above this”

Fiaz has had a stop start career but insists that he is entering the biggest fight of his life in the best physical and mental condition of his life. Padley is solely concentrating on his own performance and moving on to the next stage of his career.

“Whatever Aqib brings in that ring, adjust to it,” he said.

“I’m not going off his past experiences because this is going to be a new Aqib Fiaz but on the night there's no chance that anybody's taking that belt away from me.”