ENGLISH champion Ben Jones says he will put in the performance of his life when he challenges Liverpool's Stephen Smith for the WBO Inter-Continental super featherweight title next month.

The Redhill based boxer, who won the English title in his last fight stopping Akaash Bhatia with a technical decision last May, is set to square up with former British champion Smith in London's East End on Friday, March 2.

The fight, which will take place at the Troxy, in Limehouse, is being shown live on Box Nation and, if he is victorious, will give Jones a world ranking.

"This is a massive opportunity for me," said Jones. "It shows you my career is going in the right direction and I'm training hard to make sure that I'll be ready.

"Smith is a good boxer and someone I respect. He has a good record and was a fine amateur as well but I believe I belong at his level or even above it so I am confident of doing the business come fight night."

Smith goes into the contest on the back of a shock eighth round knockout at the hands of Lee Selby, a fight that few, if any, expected him to lose. And Jones says that the loss of your '0' can do strange things to a boxer and thinks Smith, who had been touted as a future World Champion, might

"He lost at a vital time in his career as it looked as though everything was going right for him," added the 29-year-old former Crawley ABC star. "Everyone was saying he was going to go on and do this and that in the sport and he was going to be the best of his brothers but he got shocked.

"Maybe he took Selby lightly thinking it was going to be an easy night's work but whatever reason he got brought back down to earth that night. Losing changes your mind-set and in a way I was lucky that it happened to me really early in my career. In a way it took the pressure off.

"For him it happened when he moved into the higher levels and that has to affect your self-confidence. He won't feel invincible anymore and who knows what he will feel like in our fight."

Jones himself lost a narrow points decision to Selby in 2010, but says the fact Smith was knocked out by an opponent who never seriously threatened to hurt him gives him confidence of securing the victory.

"It looked to me as though Selby was just too strong for him," added Jones. "Personally I found him to be fast, tall and slippery but I didn't feel he could hurt me at any point.

"In fact I felt I was the stronger of the two of us so it will be interesting to see how Smith copes against me."

Jones, who is trained by former Commonwealth Champion Michael Alldis, was originally scheduled to face Selby in a re-match for the British title but apparently the Welsh fighter was reluctant to face Jones who was considered a high-risk low reward fight.

"Frank Warren called me asking me if I'd face Selby again and I said of course I would," added Jones. "But then a few weeks later I heard that Selby's people had told him to turn it down. I was a bit gutted as I wanted that fight but then the chance to fight Smith came along.

"I'm hard in training at the moment and I have some really good sparring lined up or the next few weeks. Carl Frampton is coming over this week while I'm also going up to London to face Prizefighter winner Choi Tseveenpurev too.

"You can't get any better than that and I know I'll be prepared. I've also benefitted from some great sponsorship from Nutfield Health who have allowed me to use their facilities for free. It's been a huge benefit as their facilities are first rate and it has allowed me to stay fit outside of camp."