Dave Coldwell, head trainer for heavyweight contender Derek Chisora, wants his fighter to make a real statement in the upcoming contest with Artur Szpilka of Poland.

Chisora, who looked very flat in his last ring outing, is staking the future of his career in the contest and can't afford any slip-ups in the bout.

Chisora vs. Szpilka takes place on the Dillian Whyte-Oscar Rivas undercard at The O2 Arena on July 20, live on DAZN and Sky Sports Box Office.

Chisora's promoter, Eddie Hearn, is already discussing the possibility of his boxer facing former WBO world champion Joseph Parker in the fall.

But Coldwell is putting the idea of that fight to the side, and wants Chisora to do a real number on Szpilka.

"In Szpilka we've got another fight who, yes, is a southpaw, I didn't want another southpaw, but Derek has adapted to it very well in sparring. First couple of weeks, I won't lie to you, it was very hard, but he's got to grips with it now and he knows what he's got to do. Derek has got the ammunition and he's got the drive and desire to put in the performance that he needs. It's all about what happens on fight night," Coldwell told Sky Sports.

"I'm realistic whether it's fighters that I've got that are young or old. It's a must-win fight, simple as that. In an ideal world, he's going to go out there and look great. But he's fighting a southpaw, so it's very hard to look good against a southpaw. My priority is - he goes out there and he gets the win. He needs to get on Szpilka and tear him up.

"The last thing you want when you're Derek Chisora is someone running around the ring. I think Szpilka's style, obviously he moves side to side, but he isn't going to run around the ring. It's going to make for an exciting fight. I said this about the Gashi fight, we expected that to be exciting, but this is a different mentality, a big, strong heavyweight that likes to let his hands go. There's going to be some fiery exchanges in this, no doubt about that."