Junaid Bostan didn’t spend his teenage years flicking through the MTV channels or watching Hollyoaks.

The unbeaten junior middleweight has been a boxing addict since he was in primary school. When he wasn’t in the gym, Bostan would be at home rewatching old episodes of HBO’s 24/7. He has a favourite series.

“The Hatton v Mayweather ones. That contrast in personalities,” Bostan told BoxingScene. “With Hatton being a lad’s lad from Manchester and having humble beginnings and you’ve got Mayweather, a multi-millionaire all boastful and cocky. The contrast in characters and they all played their part. Oscar De La Hoya and Mayweather was good. To be fair, they were all Mayweather. The All Access ones were good too.

“To this day I watch them all. There’s nothing else I really watch. I may watch the odd podcast or a few mad videos about sharks and prison documentaries but really it’s just fighting. Just now, I watched a Prograis - Haney documentary and before that I was watching the Face-Off. I just keep up to tabs with everything.”

21 year old Bostan must have been in his element this year. There have been a series of big fights, plenty of programming to binge on and to cap it off, he has an all access, behind the scenes pass for one of 2023’s most eagerly anticipated fights of the year. Bostan trains alongside Sunny Edwards at the Steel City in gym in Sheffield and has been given a slot on the undercard of this weekend’s flyweight unification fight in Pheonix. Don’t expect him to be overawed by the opportunity.

“I’ve been around this lot since I was 12 years of age and before that I was around the Ingle Gym when Kell [Brook] was having big fights,” said Bostan, who fights unbeaten Gordie Ross II on Saturday. “I’ve been around these big fight weeks and been around stars. Growing up I used to get where water can’t. I’d be flying around, sneaking into Matchroom shows and doing whatever i could just to be around it.

“I find it second nature to be around these fight weeks and to have these opportunities. I’ve been around it that much and visualized it that much, I’ve been here a million times before.

“The amount of times I used to sneak off from school or college just to go to these opportunities thinking it’d do me good but in hindsight it did. I became a familiar face. People would wonder what this little kid was doing here. All I ever wanted to do was box and all I ever wanted to do was be around boxing. I looked up to those guys so it was good to be around it all.”

Bostan has turned plenty of heads since turning professional 18 months ago. He has stopped six of his seven opponents and has been matched against winning, hungry fighters.

He and the team have been out in America for around ten days and although Edwards is certain to capture the majority of the attention, Bostan has the heavy handed, eye catching style to have knowledgable people on the American gym scene watching the unknown British kid out of the corner of their eyes.

The great and good of American boxing are sure to gravitate to Pheonix as fight week swings into action and it would be very easy for an unbeaten, confident youngster who has grown up watching these events to get carried away by the whole adventure. Bostan isn’t the type to force things in search of plaudits and attention. He is well aware that if he continues to lives up to the standards he has set so far, the rest will take care of itself. 

“I put very little attention to it, just focus on myself,” he said. “I’m here to do a job and get myself ready for a fight so everything else is just blah-di-blah-di-blah. I understand I’ll have all eyes on me on December 16th and that’s when it matters. I’ll work towards that.

“I treat it like every single fight I’ve had but I also treat it like I want to perform every single time. No matter where it’s at. It could be Sheffield, it could be Manchester or London. It could be here. It doesn’t matter. If I’ve got a chance to perform then I’m going to do it to the very best of my ability. I want to win, yes, but as the same time I really want to put on a good performance and catch the eyes of everyone. That’s when it matters, under the lights.

“It is America, it’s something different. I’m not dumb enough not to realize that but when it comes to it, there’s no excuse and no reason not to treat it differently. I’m in a fight with another bloke and that’s how I’m gonna go about it. I wanna put on a good performance and get him out of there.”

On paper, Gordie Russ II looks to be an interesting choice of opponent. In less than three years, the 22 year old Detroiter has boxed between 153lbs and 169lbs and stopped all six of his professional opponents. A closer look at his record reveals that he has yet to fight anybody with a winning record, let alone somebody as determined to reach the top as Bostan. Nonetheless, he will climb through the ropes with the confidence of an unbeaten fighter and the knowledge that he has managed to finish every man he has faced. That is something that he will hold on to until somebody is able to beat it out of him. 

“I understand there’s levels to the game and his record only makes me look better when I do a number on him. Six fights, six knockouts. Yeah, that’s all well and good but there are levels and on December 16th I’m gonna show him. Trust me on that,” Bostan said.

“Regardless of what he brings I’ll have an answer for it. He has no say in the matter. I’m gonna handle him any which way I want and I do believe I’ll get him out of there inside the distance.”

And what can those tuning into a Junaid Bostan fight for the first time expect to see on Saturday night?

“Fireworks. I feel like the hype I’m creating will just go across the pond. I’ve had seven fights, six knockouts. I’ve been beating champions and undefeated lads and I’ve been doing it in style. I feel like I’m gonna carry on doing that.

“On Saturday I wanna do the same. I wanna get him out in the distance and I wanna look good doing it.”