Heaney against Pauls will be the headline act in the seven-title fight card at the Resorts World Arena but, despite so much resting on his fight, Heaney says he is not feeling any extra pressure.

“I’d say no,” he said. “The pressure’s always there. I want to win I don’t want to lose. I can’t imagine waking up the next day feeling like you’d let the whole city down.

“Denzel Bellingham overlooked me, one hundred per cent. I saw him making comments on Twitter. He said something along the lines of ‘I cant wait to fight Janibek [Alimkhanuly, world champion]’, and he was talking about him like I didn’t exist and our fight had been announced.

“I thought ‘you’ve overlooked me’ and I don’t want to make the same mistake.”

Heaney says it feels “crazy” to have British heavyweight and Olympic silver medallist Joe Joyce on the undercard in Birmingham and “surreal” to think back to six years ago when he was on the verge of quitting the sport to focus on a becoming a teacher.

“The WBO [World Boxing Organisation] have ranked me fourth in the world now. I remember breaking into the top twenty-five in Great Britain and now I’m top four in the world. It’s totally mad,” he said.

“To look back and fast forward to now, I would’ve never believed it. It just shows you if you put the graft in you never know what can happen. It’s happening and it’s incredible.”

A 19th straight win will undoubtedly bring Heaney’s dream of a world title fight in his own back yard a step closer but he is doing his best to make sure he does not get distracted by all the talk of that happening.

“You don’t ever want to overlook your ability and come unstuck because there’s always someone out there who wants to try to beat you.

“So Stoke and all that doesn’t exist. The only thing that exists is the 16th March.

“We’re going to make the most of these nights because you never know when they’re going to end.”