NEW YORK – Bakhtiyar Eyubov was one of the few welterweights in boxing willing to fight Jaron Ennis on Friday night for a reasonable amount of money.

Eyubov believes he’ll justify that confidence by giving one of the sport’s top prospects the most difficult fight of his career.

“It’s gonna be Ennis’ hardest fight because I came here to fight,” Eyubov said during a press conference Tuesday in Manhattan. “I’m gonna come in like the hunter. I’m gonna hunt him down. I’m gonna put pressure on him. I’m not gonna let go of him.”

The 22-year-old Ennis has knocked out 92 percent of his pro opponents and has had praised heaped upon him since he began boxing on Showtime in July 2018. The gifted Philadelphia welterweight is sure he’ll fight for a world title by the beginning of 2021, which makes 2020 an important developmental year for Ennis (24-0, 22 KOs).

Ennis envisions that process starting spectacularly Friday night versus Eyubov in a 10-round bout Showtime will televise from Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).

“That statement [I’ll make] is doing my thing, me having fun as always, being sharp, smart, fast, strong and getting that knockout,” Ennis said. “It’s gonna come because he gotta come to me. So, it’s gonna come. We gonna set it up perfectly and get him up outta here.”

The 33-year-old Eyubov (14-1-1, 12 KOs, 1 NC) lost an eight-round unanimous decision to Brian Ceballo (11-0, 6 KOs) in his last fight, June 8 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Kazakhstan’s Eyubov settled for an eight-round majority draw with Mexican journeyman Jose Luis Rodriguez (25-13-1, 13 KOs) in his previous appearance, but he feels he is prepared to turn around his career by pulling off what would be a huge upset against a 50-1 favorite Friday night.

“I know he’s very skilled,” Eyubov said. “He’s very strong physically and mentally. But I grew up on the streets. I’ve been in a war basically all my life, so I’m bringing my toughness. I’m not a regular opponent. I’m not so skilled as he is, but I’m very awkward, so I have my chances.”

Ennis-Eyubov will be the second part of a three-fight telecast that’ll feature women’s star Claressa Shields in the main event. Shields (9-0, 2 KOs), a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Flint, Michigan, will attempt to win world titles in a third division when she encounters Croatia’s Ivana Habazin (20-3, 7 KOs) in a 10-round, 154-pound fight for the WBC and WBO titles.

“I wanna thank Eyubov for taking this fight because, as y’all know, we go through a bunch of opponents every time I fight and nobody wanna fight me,” Ennis said. “I thank him for taking this fight, but Friday night I’m coming to do my thing, put on a show. Y’all know my story. I’m in and out like a robbery.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.