Jimmy Sweeney has vowed to set bareknuckle boxing records that will never be broken.
The ring magician has signed a new three-year contract with promoters BKB and says that by the time that runs out, he will be ready to quit fighting with a record that nobody will ever match.
Sweeney celebrates his 36th birthday next month and said: “I’m going to spend the next three years cementing my legacy so that nobody can ever touch me.
“I feel I can win world titles at two more weights. That would make me a world champion in five weight divisions and that’s a record that will take some beating.
“I’m going to be pushing for that and a fight against a massive name, maybe someone from the States.
“That’s what’s keeping me going.
“I’m 36 next month, so I’m getting on a bit. I’m still hungry, but I have a little baby to think of now and it’s hard to put the time in that I used to.
“This game is for athletes now. You can’t go out drinking the night before and still expect to win, like I used to. There are some fit guys coming through now.”
Next for Sweeney looks likely to be a rematch with Ricardo Franco, who took the world lightweight championship off him with a cuts win last year.
Sweeney was scheduled to fight Tyler Goodjohn for the vacant bantamweight crown, but Goodjohn appears to have retired.
Sweeney said: “I was disappointed that the fight fell through (in April) and now it looks like Tyler is going a different route.
“I would rather look forward than back. Now I have to focus on Franco. There’s no other fight out there at the moment that I want.”
Sweeney lost his world title to Franco in injuries after dropping him twice and insists the rematch will be different.
“I never felt myself in the first fight,” he said. “Something wasn’t right. I just wasn’t as sharp as I usually am.
“I still dropped him twice and was winning the fight before it was stopped.
“I know going into the rematch that he can’t hurt me and I have the power to hurt him.
“Franco didn’t fight the best Jimmy Sweeney, but I fought the best Franco.
“I know that my best beats his best.
“Franco is a decent fighter. He’s fit and confident. I need to break him in the first couple of rounds and take that confidence from him.
“My boxing experience is far better than his. If I get my jab going, it could be an easy night for me.
“As soon as I can I will start sparring to get my sharpness up.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I don’t want to get in there thinking: ‘If I lose, I’m quitting.’ I want to enjoy it.”
Only Julian Lane and Franco have beaten Sweeney in his 26-fight bareknuckle career.
He avenged the loss to Lane and said: “Nobody has beaten me twice in BKB and nobody will.
“It’s the sign of a good champion to come back and that’s what I’m going to do.
“I need to beat Franco more convincingly than he beat me. That won’t be hard because he only beat me on a cut when I was ahead on points, but I want to put any doubts to bed. I want to win so convincingly that nobody will want to see a third fight.”