Mark Dickinson may have been only eight fights into his career, but the super middleweight’s recent English title fight with Reece Farnhill had a real “must-win” feel to it.

In his first fight as a bona fide 168-pounder and his first real test since losing to Kazuto Takesako in the quarterfinals of the ill-fate Prizefighter Middleweight tournament, the 26-year-old from County Durham produced the performance of his career to outpoint the rock solid and undefeated Farnhill.

The 10 rounds highlighted the quick hands and accurate, aggressive combination punching that made Dickinson such a promising prospect. Dickinson also proved that he can grit his teeth and outlast a relentless, ambitious champion.

Dickinson (8-1, 2 KOs) has always had potential. Now he has a title to back up his reputation. He makes the first defence of his English 168-pound belt against Troy Williamson on Saturday night on DAZN.

“I think one of the reliefs really was that now I have a belt, I should really be able to get a few more opportunities,” Dickinson told The Ring.

“It gives people a reason to fight me, but at the same time — and this is no disrespect towards the English title — I want to move on to a bigger things.

“I don't want to stay around this level forever. I want to push on and see how far I can go. I’d like to know if I'm good enough to win a British title. Am I good enough to win a European title or world honours?

“We'll take it one step at a time and obviously I'll do my job September 6th.”

Although he lost an exciting 10-round decision to Takesako, Dickinson performed well in by far his toughest test.

He took the lessons he learned into the fight with Farnhill and applied them perfectly.

“Honestly, I think they've just made me as a fighter,” he said of the 20 tough rounds he shared with Takesako and Farnhill

“I’m a completely different fighter, but I wouldn't even say ability-wise. I would say more just mindset.

“I realise now, that sometimes having the experience is a bit more than having the ability to do it. You need to have the experience to do it over the longer rounds, when to use your skills and when to make your work cleaner than theirs. That mindset of getting through the tough middle rounds. In my opinion, the middle rounds are probably the toughest rounds in a fight. Once you get into that second half, you get your second wind.”

Dickinson has sparred plenty of rounds with Williamson and knows that he may need to find that second wind again this weekend.

Until he ran into Josh Kelly in December 2022, Williamson reigned as an undefeated British junior middleweight champion. Since then, he has remained in good company but lost four out of his last five fights.

The 34-year-old from Darlington has still never been stopped but this weekend’s fight will be his first at 168 pounds and it remains to be seen whether will be able to absorb the number or quality of shots that Farnhill did.

“Maybe. He is really tough,” Dickinson said.

“I'm not going to sit here and be like, 'Oh, I think Troy's finished' and this and that because I don't. He's only been beaten off good men and every man that's beat him is not the same style as me.

“They've kind of been movers. Josh Kelly, Ishmael Davis and 'Black Thunder' [Caoimhin Agyarko] are all quite good at hitting and moving. I’m not going to run from Troy, am I?”

It is a fair point. If Williamson had to choose a style of fighter to revive his career against, it would be somebody who is happy to hold their feet and stay in the pocket. Dickinson fits that description.

Acknowledging rather than dismissing a potential threat is a clear sign of the mature way Dickinson now approaches his job. Nonetheless, he is still fully confident of winning and moving on.

“At the same time, if I designed an opponent for me, I'd design someone like [Williamson],” he said.

“He's going to be right in front of me. I think it'll be an exciting fight. It'll be an entertaining fight for the fans, but at the same time it's a fight I believe I will win convincingly.”