Watford middleweight Elliott Matthews faces a must-win fight in London next week.

Matthews is matched over six rounds at Bethnal Green's York Hall on Saturday, October 1 ahead of the biggest fight of his career.

He’s been paired with Anthony Ogogo in a British-title eliminator that’s set to take place before the end of the year.

But that fight will be scrapped if Matthews slips up in his next fight.

The 35-year-old southpaw said: “This next fight is a risk, definitely.

“But I don’t have a date yet for the Ogogo fight. That might not happen until the end of the year and I want to stay sharp.”

Matthews says he’s also keen to have a fight with his new trainer in his corner.

He’s switched to start working with Dennis Maycock, who’s CV includes a spell training George Groves when he was a young kick boxer.

Matthews is convinced their first fight together will be a crushing victory.

He said: “I don’t know who I’m fighting next week and I don’t care. Whoever it is, they are getting destroyed. There’s no way I’m slipping up now. My next opponent is in trouble. He won’t last three rounds with me.”

Looking ahead to the fight with Ogogo, he said: “It's a great fight for me. I wanted a big name opponent.

"He can box, he can fight and he can get people out of there. He's going to be training extremely hard with a good team and I know it's going to be tough for me.

"But it's going to be tough for him as well. This is also a big step up for him."

Tickets for the show at the York Hall are available from 07886 683614.