Former two division world champion Sergio Martinez (54-3-2, 30 KOs) is still chasing the ultimate goal, which is a crack at the WBA middleweight title.

But first, he must overcome British contender Macaulay McGowan (14-2-1; 3 KOs) on January 27 at the Wizink Center in Madrid.

The 27-year-old underdog, 19 years younger than Martinez, said to Espabox: “I made the leap [to the pros] in 2014, the same year that Sergio Martínez retired for the first time after the fight against Miguel Cotto. I am a tough, strong and skilled fighter with determination. I won titles, I was an English and British champion. I started when he seemed to be finishing his career, and now I have before me his potential definitive retirement in the event I beat him."

I see the time for the veteran to give way to the new blood.

The man born in Lanchashire, north of Manchester, views the contest as the fight of his life.

"History could put me in the same place as Cotto in the sense of retiring a legend like Sergio Martinez. I want to win at all costs.... not to retire him, but because I have my own career, I am looking for my own place, I am 27 years old and I am in my prime, he has nothing left to prove and I want to derail that train; It is my moment, and I see the time for the veteran to give way to the new blood," McGowan said.

“I grew up watching him with [the fight he won against [Julio Cesar] Chavez Jr., defeating my compatriots like Martin Murray, Matthew Macklin, Darren Barker, etc. He was already boxing when I started [to learn], incredible, but there is no bad blood at all between us, I just want to do my job and beat him. It is the sport, I would like to reach everything that he has, that is why I must defeat him."