James “Jazza" Dickens will be crowned Britain's fourth reigning male world champion this weekend.

On Saturday night, Lamont Roach will make his junior welterweight debut when challenging Mexico’s WBC interim champion, Isaac Cruz (28-3-1, 18 KOs), at the Frost Bank Centre in San Antonio, Texas.

The move to 140-pounds marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the Maryland native but also closes a successful episode of his career.

When the first bell sounds, Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) will lose the WBA junior lightweight title he won by beating Hector Garcia in November 2023.

Interim titleholder Dickens (36-5, 15 KOs) will instantly be upgraded to full champion.

He will join WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley, IBF welterweight beltholder Lewis Crocker and WBA featherweight titlist Nick Ball, as a current world titleholder.

The 34-year-old Liverpudlian will make the first defence of his title against Japan’s Hayato Tsutsumi (8-0, 5 KOs) on Ring V: Night of the Samurai, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 27 and broadcast exclusively on DAZN.

In July, Dickens won the interim title by bullying Russia's previously-undefeated Albert Batyrgaziev to stun him inside four one-sided rounds.

Dickens’ story is one of perseverance.

Back in 2016, Dickens made an ambitious leap up from British level and climbed into the ring with the world’s best junior featherweight; the outstanding Cuban, Guillermo Rigondeaux.

His hopes of springing a major surprise came to a brutal end when forced to retire after suffering a broken jaw in the second round.

He had to wait five years for another shot. When it came, Dickens never got a foothold in his fight with IBF featherweight titleholder Kid Galahad, and was stopped in the 11th round.

The defeat proved a costly one for Dickens, forced to rebuild out of the spotlight and many assumed his hoes of competing at the very highest level were over.

He claimed a minor world featherweight title but in July 2023, lost it to Mexico’s Hector Sosa after a brutal battle with the scales.

Stepping up to junior featherweight and joining up with Albert Ayrapetyan at The Golden Ring Boxing Gym in Dubai has breathed new life into Dickens’ career.

In February, he scored an upset victory over Manchester’s Zelfa Barrett and then looked better then ever to outbox and stop Batyrgaziev.

Now, he will end 2025 by defending a recognised world title on a major show.