Josh Kelly has warned Liam Smith that he is ready to beat him because he is the one who has peaked – and not because he believes Smith is on the decline.

Their fight is one of the most attractive in the Daniel Dubois-Anthony Joshua-led promotion at Wembley Stadium on September 21. It will also be contested at middleweight, where Kelly has never fought before.

Smith and his trainer Joe McNally are convinced that Kelly and Adam Booth, the 30-year-old’s trainer and manager, are targeting Smith because of his well-known age and the impression that he is finally going downhill at 36.

However, Kelly, who has long been considered one of British boxing’s greatest natural talents, insists that her confidence is more a result of his maturing physically and mentally.

His only loss to David Avanesyan in 2021 was due not only to the elder Avanesyan’s superior physicality, but also to the struggle with hypochondria that held Kelly back. Recruiting Steven Green, a mindset coach, has since contributed to the development of a new belief.

Kelly had hoped to fight in early 2024 after stopping Placido Ramirez in December, but he stayed at Booth’s gym waiting for an opportunity like the one that has now presented itself, telling BoxingScene: “It was a stroke of luck. I waited, but I trained. Of course there are ups and downs where you think, ‘Holy shit – what are we doing here?’. But now I think, ‘That’s why the fight didn’t happen.’ It’s a blessing. This came at the right time.

“That’s where I am. I’m more than ready for it. It just took me a long time to get there. But I’m more comfortable in my skin – I’m a mature man now. I’m 30; I didn’t have hair under my arms until I was 18. At 24, 25, I was just a boy and I fought all these men. When ‘Canelo’ (Saul Alvarez) fought Mayweather at 23, Canelo was like a guy. He was a young, strong man. I’m just starting to understand that. I told Adam I could go on for another five, six, seven years. I’m keeping myself young. I’m not living a crazy life and I’m comfortable in my life. With life experience you become more relaxed because you’ve seen and done more.

“I was supposed to box in May or June. Then they said, ‘Now you could box in October.’ I just prepared myself. I’m in top form in the gym; I fought a lot with Felix (Cash) in his training camp; I did 10, 12 rounds, so I’m more than ready now.

“We were close to making the fight in June. It would have been somebody else. It would have just been a fight. ‘Listen, I’ve got to get out – I can’t sit here and train so hard and not fight.’ It was three or four weeks before the fight. Adam was like, ‘We’re ready; anytime; we only need three weeks tops to fight anyone.’ That’s how ready I was.

“Right now I have to take the reins back a little bit because I’m so ready. But I’ve never been in this position before, so it’s a nice place and it’s the right place for me as a fighter.”

Smith last fought in September 2023, when a back injury contributed to him losing his rematch against Chris Eubank Jnr. He and McNally see comparisons in his clash with Kelly to 2021 – eight months after Kelly lost to Avanesyan – when he stopped Anthony Fowler at a time when his future as a world-class fighter was on the line.

“Liam was in the running with everybody, right?” Kelly continued. “He was in the running with Alvarez; he was in the running with (Jaime) Munguia; he was in the running with a lot of them. I’m going up against him – with that wealth of experience – I’m excited to challenge something like that. I’m not in this sport to say I took an easy path; I’m here to compete with the best and get through because I believe I do. If you don’t believe that, then take fights here, there and anywhere. After the Troy (Williamson) fight in 2022, I was ready to fight those guys. It just never happened. I had to wait an extra year, but now I’m here and I’m thankful for that.

“I don’t pick my opponents on that basis (that I think they’re getting weaker). Adam picks my opponents anyway; we talk about it, but if it’s in (Smith’s) head, it’s not in my head. He has to question himself, not me, because I’ve never questioned that.

“I believe the best Liam Smith will show up tonight. I think he’ll try to turn back the clock because after the loss to Eubank (he needs to redeem himself), so I’m ready for the best version of him. I only think about me – I don’t need to think about anyone else. When I think about him, I’m not focused on me. I need the best version of me. The best version of me is causing problems for everyone else in the world.

“He had a good, long career. Hell, if I had the career he had, I would be blessed and grateful. He won a world title; he fought the best in the world. It’s just my time – that’s all.

“I never thought we would have a falling out. I thought Liam might have been out of the sport by the time I got to this level, but that’s not the case – and we’re pretty much friends. It’s not hard, but it is what it is. It’s just a business. We have to feed our families. But now it’s my time. It’s my time.

“Growing up, you admire people like that. His family is deeply rooted in boxing, and I watched them growing up and just thought, ‘Damn it.’ It wasn’t a style I idolized, but at the same time I respected his damn hard work; how smart he is behind the hands; that closed guard. He’s really sneaky behind that. I watched him a lot growing up, and I remember watching the Smiths as a kid. It’s crazy.

“I’m not Fowler. I’m very different from Anthony Fowler. I’m very, very different. In terms of his attitude, maybe, but in terms of fighting me, I’m a completely different caliber. (If he thinks that) it’s going to be a really rough night for him. But I know he appreciates us; he knows what’s going on.

“You go through ups and downs where you think, ‘I’m fighting, I’m fighting, I’m fighting’; you get ready but then it doesn’t happen. But now I’m mature enough. As a kid I would have been very different. Now I’m mature enough to say, ‘Yeah, take a day off, keep moving, meet the kids, go out with them, come back, now I’m training again.’

“It’s not like, ‘This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening.’ I’m losing my head. I’m locked in. I’m a mature young man. I’ve got my eyes on what I need; my eyes on the prize; what’s coming; what’s due. I can’t wait. It’s going to be a great night.”