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Fired-up 'Tank' feels ready for anything

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Dudley's Ryan Aston has told Ahmet Patterson he will be ready for anything when the two engage in a 12-round York Hall battle tomorrow night.

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A fired-up 'Tank' and the Londoner tipped the scales in the capital today ahead of their title tussle at the famed Bethnal Green fight venue,

writes Craig Birch.

Aston will co-challenge for the vacant IBF International light middleweight belt, with a top 15 world ranking with the organisation also benefiting the winner.

The bout is chief support to Ryan Walsh defending his British featherweight title for the first time against unbeaten Scot Darren Traynor at the top of the bill.

BoxNation viewers will watch live as the Black Country southpaw aims to take the crown and the '0' of undefeated stylist and favourite Patterson.

Aston has used his opponent's claims that he will "kick off 2016 with a winning performance and start ripping the scene up" as an added incentive.

'The Punch Picker' freely admitted he knows little about his foe's style. On paper, he sees Aston's two defeats and two draws that alongside his 18 wins - but eight inside the distance - as prove he's beatable.

But his 24-year-old adversary has vowed to rip up the form book and take the fight to 'Pattycake' on his own turf, boasting a confidence that has escaped him in some of his patchier fights.

Ryan Aston (right) and Ahmet Patterson square up after weighing in earlier today.

Aston said: "I'm at my best and it will soon be time to go out there and prove it. If he's looked past me, I want to make sure it blows up in his face.

"I don't think he can match me for boxing ability or punch power. Can he outsmart me? Can he hit harder? Can he keep me off him for 12 rounds? On every score, I doubt it.

"I'm in there to do the business. If he wants to meet me on the inside, we'll do it. If he tries to draw me into a brawl, I'll pick my shots and box his head off.

"I've watched him many times, has he done the same? I've played our fight over and over again in my head and I've imagined every possibility.

"I'm physically and, as importantly, mentally right to do this. I'm a bigger man, too, coming from down from middle while he's really a blown-up light welter.

"As I establish my jab, he won't have a chance. It isn't fire in my belly, it's more like a furnace!"

Aston thanked his employers, the High Arcal School in Dudley he attended himself as a schoolboy, for helping him with time off to train from his job as a mentor.

And he's dedicating the fight to Steve Gough, the vice-president of Priory Park Boxing Club who passed away suddenly last weekend.

Aston graduated through the club's amateur ranks and now trains out of the pro section of a gym in which Steve played an integral part.

Steve's cousin, Paul, is Aston's main coach and the Gough boys have been running Priory Park ever since he took up the sport there at the age of nine.

Aston said: "It's been a tough week for everyone, but it's time to make him proud now. He'll be on our t-shirts, on my robe - and in our hearts."

[interruptor]