Harrow Weald boxer Mitchell Smith expects to put on a show for his fans at Wembley this Saturday as he bids to move a step closer to a British title fight.

The unbeaten 22-year-old returns to the ring at the SSE Arena at Wembley this weekend when he faces Chile’s Cristian Palma for the vacant WBO Intercontinental Super-Featherweight title.

Smith initially intended to step down to featherweight after picking up the English title and WBO European belt at super featherweight.

He said: “It’s nice to be liked and I like to give back, meet up with my fans. I think they just see me as a ‘happy-go-lucky’ kid, who’s willing to learn and confident of his ability to produce and excite in the ring.

“They always know that, even if I’m not at my best, they’re in for a decent fight.

“Come Saturday, I’ll be looking for another dominant, professional performance to show my class and light up Wembley.”

Smith accepts he is not ready for the world stage yet but is targeting the British title this year and has several opponents in his sights.

He said: “I’m still a few fights off world level. I need more distance fights. But the British title is a prestigious belt that I definitely intend to win this year.

“As Frank Warren won the purse bids for the vacant British title fight between Ryan Walsh and Samir Mouneimne, it should be easy to match me with the winner. I expect that’ll be Walsh but he’s not exciting enough to be our champion.

“He’s been trash talking me lately, saying my record is polished. But I’ve beaten more unbeaten fighters than he has.”

Smith added: “I expect European champion Josh Warrington to get hammered by Lee Selby later this year and when he drops back down to domestic level I’ll beat him comfortably too; I don’t rate him.

“It’s my dream to top the bill at the O2 in London or even Wembley Stadium but you need a rivalry.”

The former Harrow ABC fighter impressed during his stoppage win over Antonio Horvatic in his last bout in March.

It was an ideal start to the year after an injury-disrupted 2014 resulted in him having just three fights.

His latest opponent has plenty of experience and Smith is not necessarily expecting an early night. Smith, who has won all 11 of his professional fights, said: “There’ll be new challenges. I’ve studied Hispanic fighters for a long time and they seem tougher human beings than Europeans, they certainly hold a shot better.

“Obviously I’ll be looking to hurt him as early as possible so I can have my own way but I doubt I’ll be able to just bully the lad. It’ll be more a gradual wearing down process.

“The kid has 20 wins on his record so he’ll not just be coming to guard up. From tapes, he seems quite game, he’ll come with ambitions. He’s been in with some very good kids.”