“I had just done a good week of sparring in Mallorca with a top Cuban guy and I felt ready,” Dacres tells The Ring. “Then the phone goes, Anderson is injured and the fight’s off just like that.”

What made matters worse is that the 32-year-old had already been out of the ring for the best part of 10 months after injuring his bicep during a career-best victory over the previously undefeated Vladyslav Sirenko at Wembley Stadium in July last year.

He had jumped at the chance to face Anderson (18-1, 15 KOs), the man once tipped to be the face of a resurgence in American heavyweight boxing.

His stoppage defeat by Martin Bakole in August 2024 damaged his reputation somewhat. However, Dacres still knew victory over “The Real Big Baby” would have made a lot of noise to put him in line for some major fights.

Instead, Anderson withdrew from their fight scheduled to take place on the Daniel Dubois-Fabio Wardley I undercard in Manchester on May 9. Dacres has been waiting around ever since.

Now, as Dubois and Wardley meet for their rematch at London’s 02 Arena on Saturday night, Dacres has again jumped at the chance of a fight which many expect him to lose. Out is Anderson but in is the undefeated double Olympic champion Bakhodir Jalolov.

Like Anderson, “The Big Uzbek” has been hailed as the future of the division but, now 32, his career has not quite hit the heights expected of him as yet. For Dacres, that means another opportunity.

“I look at him like an opportunity waiting to happen for someone,” Dacres says. “Realistically as a pro for this long, as an Olympic gold medalist, he should already be knocking on the door for big fights.

“He should have been having them by now. So why has he not had these step ups after all these years? He keeps going back into the amateurs. It seems like a strange career for someone so heavily tipped as a future world champion.

“And it's go time for me. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. I believe in myself. I've done all the sparring. I've been in with all the top guys. I've got the amateur pedigree. It's time to act.”

It is now more than seven years since Jalolov (17-0, 15 KOs) made his professional debut but progress in the paid ranks has been halted by his decision to box at the Olympics in 2020 and 2024, claiming gold at both.

He signed promotional terms with Queensberry earlier this year and made his debut for them on the first Wardley-Dubois card, stopping Agron Smakici in the seventh of their 10-rounder.

It was not a vintage display from Jalolov and Dacres (10-1, 3 KOs) is adamant he has more professional seasoning than his opponent despite having fewer fights.

He said: “He’s used to having it all his own way over three rounds in the amateurs. I think over 10 rounds, it doesn’t matter how good you are in the amateurs. If you can’t put those 10 rounds together you can be dragged into it by anyone. I think he has shown that in a couple of fights.

“I’ve got the boxing ability, the stamina and toughness to put the pressure on him a bit and to make it very uncomfortable for him in there. I’ve had a little look at certain things and he’s had a hard time in a couple of fights where it goes beyond four or five rounds against people that aren’t particularly great but they’re durable and tough which is the pro game.

“I feel like I’m someone who has got a bit more to make him think about things technically, and who has that durability and toughness. That’s what makes me think that I can get to him.”

Underdog Dacres, a veteran of four completed 10-rounders, has been priced at around 3/1 (+300) to pull off an upset victory which he believes will fire him right to the top of the division.

“After I win here, I’m knocking on the door to be in the conversation for these big fights,” he adds. “Personally, I’d fight the winner of the main event or I’d fight someone like Murat Gassiev no problem. I want to be going up to the next level and winning these sorts of fights will take me there.

“I’ve had my setbacks, I’ve been out of the ring for 15 months now but you've just got to keep going and keep trusting the processs. You've come this far, you've done all the work. This is a career and you've got to look at it as a career, not a little flash in the pan. I've got to stay the course and that’s what this weekend is all about.”