LAWRENCE Bennett believes that Thursday night’s Southern Area cruiserweight title clash with Jack Morris will be the defining moment of his career.

The 31-year-old heads to London looking to make a statement and come out of the dark places which left him considering his future in boxing.

But now the Jamaican-born Bad Boy has his ‘mojo’ back and is ready show that he is not just in the sport to make up the numbers.

“Title fights are the reason I got into boxing,” said Bennett, who goes into the fight at the Ring Boxing Club in Southwark on the back of a four-round points loss to Courtney Richards.

“I got a lot of people to prove wrong. They say that I’m too old, but on Thursday I’ll show them.

“There is no doubt in my mind if I go in there and do what I’m supposed to do then I’ll be bringing back the title to Swindon.

“Winning the belt is going to open up a lot of doors for me because I’ll be the Southern Area champion and people will want me on their shows, they’ll have to come to my back yard and fight.

“I am only thinking about one result – me winning.”

Bennett believes that his loss to Richards in December last year was the best thing that has happened to him in his career – even if it meant him considering hanging up the gloves.

“I was gutted at the time,” he said. “I thought that if I was losing these sort of fights then what I am doing boxing for.

“But I spoke to a lot of good people – friends and family – and I’ve got my mojo back.

“I was in some dark places, but I’ve trained hard and I’m ready.

“I think that because of that defeat I have got this chance because they think it’ll be an easy fight – so out of adversity will come glory.”

Bennett admits that he is unsure how he will cope going over 10 rounds for the first time in his five-fight career.

However, he knows that if he wants the titles around his waist then this is what he has to do.

“When I heard it was 10 rounds, I thought ‘oh my god, that is a long time’,” he said.

“But I do 10 to 20 rounds in the gym every day and if I want this belt or even the British title then I have to be able to do 10 to 12 rounds under the lights.”

Bennett’s opponent Morris, who has won 10 of his 12 fights, is also relatively inexperienced having only gone six rounds twice.

But the Margate-born part-time model has had a taste of the big-time in boxing, having featured in the 2011 Matchroom-promoted Prizefighter tournament for light-heavyweights.

However, while Bennett has been growing into the 200lb weight limit, he came in for the Richards bout at 197lbs, Morris is a small cruiserweight having never tipped the scales above 189lbs.

“I’m not focusing on what he has done,” Bennett said. “You can get too caught up with who they have beaten or how they fight.

“It is down to me to go in there, execute my plans and I’m sure that it’ll be me taking that belt home.”