LUKE Watkins insists he will not let the pressure of fighting for his first title get the better of him as he looks to be crowned the Irish cruiserweight champion tonight.

The 27-year-old, whose mother Caroline hails from Wexford, faces Dubliner Ian Tims for the vacant belt in Belfast on the undercard of Lee Haskins’ IBF world bantamweight title defence against Ryan Burnett.

The fight, which will be aired on Sky Sports Facebook Live, will be the former Bradon Forest and New College student’s 11th in the paid ranks, but while this will be Watkins’ biggest test to date, he will not let the pressure affect him.

“I’m not really thinking about it being a title fight. It is great that it is, but at the end of a day, it is just something that I have to block out,’’ he told the Advertiser.

“Like the fights in Swindon when I’m in the ring, I just have to block out the crowd and the ring girls and focus on my opponent.”

The Paddy Fitzpatrick-trained boxer is no stranger to fighting on the bigger stage, having made his debut on the undercard of George Groves’ European super-middleweight title fight with Christopher Rebrasse in September 2014.

A week later, he heading out to Germany to box on Paul Smith’s unsuccessful bid to dethrone then-WBO world super-middleweight champion Arthur Abraham.

“I have had experience fighting on the high profile shows early on in my career and this is probably the second biggest show that I will have boxed on,” said the unbeaten fighter, who has six stoppages in his 10 bouts to date.

“But I haven’t treated this one any different to any of my other fights.

“I know it is a step up but every fight is a step forward. We don’t just step, step, step to stay where we are, we are always looking to move forward.

“I’m going to stick to the plan that we’ve set out. I never going looking for the knock out, if it comes, then I’ll try and go for it, but that is not how we set out to go into a fight.”

Despite his Trifecta stable-mates Ryan Martin and Sam Smith fighting in Swindon at the Play Football Arena on June 24, Watkins always wanted to cross the Irish Sea for this bout.

“I am excited by this challenge. It is only right that I go to Ireland to try to win the Irish title,” he said.

“I have family dotted all over Ireland and I’m so very grateful for the support I get at all my fights.”