Boxing: Albert Nolan to defend Australasian title against Vegas Larfield

In truth, that is not the case.

But the Gunnedah resident, who will actually be defending his WBC Australasian title against Vegas Larfield in Sydney that night, wants to strip away all the hype and pressure in his mind.

"I feel all right," Nolan said.

"I'm not worrying about who he is. I'm just making out it's another, normal fight, and I'll go out there and do what I've got to do."

On paper, Larfield is the most dangerous and credentialed opponent Nolan has fought. The Brisbane-based fighter is undefeated from nine career bouts, seven of which have been stopped.

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Rather than feeling trepidatious, however, Nolan is eager to test himself against a higher-quality opponent.

"It's going to test me," Nolan said.

"I like testing myself, so that'll be good. I'm keen to get out there and see where our levels are at."

The biggest test so far, Nolan said, has been his training camp. The mine worker has battled an unforgiving schedule to ensure he is as ready as he can be for fight night.

"It's a massive struggle," he said.

"I work night shift, finish at 8.30 in the morning. Then I've got an hour's drive home, then I try and train, have a quick sleep, then train again.

"I try to train two or three times a day. I do what I can with the hours that I can sleep."

Nonetheless, Nolan believes he has managed to continue improving between fights. Ahead of his most recent bouts, the 26-year-old had focused on improving his power and finding opportunities to land bigger shots.

This time around, he said, the focus was on his movement.

"I'll still be looking to open up those shots," Nolan said.

"I've been focusing a bit more on my footwork and trying to snap my hands a bit harder to land some bigger shots. But we'll see what comes."

Given Larfield's record, and particularly his 77.8 per cent finishing rate, Nolan expects the 21-year-old to "come out pretty strong" and "look to be the forward fighter."

And, without wanting to give away his game plan, Nolan was confident in saying he would "see what comes of that and adapt to it".

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