Undefeated junior welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr says he is targeting a showdown with Jack Catterall and is willing to come to the UK to face him.

Catterall, who is the WBO mandatory, stepped aside to enable an undisputed fight between unified champions Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez to take place, with the clash likely to happen in the spring.

Barboza secured the WBO International title with victory over Alex Saucedo in October and is rated as the number three contender by the governing body.

Should the winner of Taylor and Ramirez vacate their belts, the Californian is targeting a showdown with the Brit and would have no issue fighting Catterall in his backyard.

“We’ve got to wait and see what happens with Ramirez and Taylor,” Barboza told proboxing-fans.com

“Hopefully they vacate the belts and hopefully I can fight Jack Catterall, hopefully I can fight him for the WBO.

“I would love that fight, I’m pretty sure he will too and it’ll be a great fight, he’s a great fighter, he’s a good fighter, very well rounded and very strong, very well conditioned, so we’ll be ready for whatever comes thrown at us.”

“I would love to go to the UK to fight him. I just signed with MTK so I would love to go out there and get some fanbase.

“So, let’s do it, that’s my plan, if I do fight Catterall I want to do it over there, I don’t even want to do it here, I would love to do it out there.”

The 29-year-old climbed off the canvas on route to a ten round unanimous decision against Top Rank stablemate, Saucedo, to register a 25th straight professional win.

Barboza followed this up by signing a managerial deal with Rick Mirigian and an advisory deal with MTK Global and insists he will earn the respect of his rivals.

“I definitely think that a lot of fighters, they don’t talk about me,” Barboza added.

“That could be a good thing, that could be a bad thing, so I think either way they don't respect me, but they will soon."