Jeamie Tshikeva is looking forward to seeing how David Adeleye handles the pressure when the British heavyweights collide on April 5th.

Tshikeva, 8-1 (5 KOs), will fight English heavyweight champion, Adeleye, 13-1 (12 KOs), at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena. The fight will form part of the undercard to Dillian Whyte’s clash with Joe Joyce and the whole event will be screened live on DAZN.

Of all the fighters on the heavyweight themed show, Tshikeva - who is commonly known as TKV - is arguably the one with the most to gain but he revealed that he didn’t have to bang the drum and campaign for the opportunity to fight Adeleye. The phone rang, he discussed it with his team and said ‘Yes’.

As simple as that.

“Literally the offer came over the weekend,” he told The Ring at Monday’s press conference.

“I never called him out, he never called me out. It was a fight that was put on the table and we took it, we both took it.

“Look, it just made sense to really push my career where it needs to be.

“The opportunity that was at hand, as a team, we couldn't turn it down.”

Both TKV and Adeleye have already had to deal with disappointment.

In September 2023, TKV was troubled by unknown Brazilian danger man, Igor Macedo and stopped after suffering a terrible cut in the sixth round.

A month later, Adeleye was taken out in seven by Fabio Wardley in their British and Commonwealth title fight.

31 year-old TKV has responded well from the loss to Macedo, racking up three wins and got a solid ninth round stoppage of Michael Webster under his belt two weeks ago.

Adeleye is a confident character who looks to have successfully rediscovered his swagger and rebuilt his ego since joining up with new trainer Adam Booth, blowing away Solomon Dacres inside a round last December.

Since their respective defeats, TKV has boxed 21 rounds whilst his fellow Londoner has been in the ring for less than three minutes.

TKV isn’t sure whether that level of activity will make any difference on fight night but he is determined to find out.

“Maybe, but it might not because when he got in that ring last time he didn't look like he was out for a year so it don't mean nothing,” he said.

“As long as you get your training right, you do everything right and you perform how you're supposed to. I'm going to be in that ring causing issues.

“Of course, he walks around confident and talks confident but that don't mean nothing. We're going to get in that ring. Listen, I'm going to put the pressure on him. Let’s see how he handles it.”