TRAINER John Costello says he expects to see the best Jamie Cox of his career so far when he squares up against John Ryder at the O2 Arena this weekend.

Cox returns to the ring after a brief outing at the O2 in February, where he dispatched Harry Matthews in the second round.

After suffering his first defeat to George Groves last year, Costello says the 31-year-old southpaw is looking more dangerous than ever behind closed doors.

“He looks fantastic in the gym and it is a good fight on Saturday between two honest lads,” he said.

“It’s a fight that Jamie is going to shine in and stylistically, it is made to be a fantastic fight, even though Eddie Hearn was chasing Rocky Fielding.

“Jamie has been boxing really well in the gym. If he can transfer that to the ring on Saturday, I think we are going to see the best Jamie Cox that we have seen.

“That will then give him the platform to go on to another world title shot and win one. What people realise is that Jamie turns up to fight.

“No matter who is put in front of him, you know Jamie is going to turn up and he could never be boring to watch, he couldn’t lose his excitement if he tried.

“We just need him to be thinking a bit more and if he does that he’ll win a world title and be a very good champion too.”

After Cox’s first loss, his record now stands at 25-1 and Costello believes the 31-year-old’s winning mentality and a lack of patience was his downfall last year.

Ryder, who has only suffered defeat four times in 29 bouts to Rocky Fielding, Chris Eubank Jr, Billy Joe Saunders and Trowbridge’s Nick Blackwell respectively, presents both a physical and mental challenge for Cox.

Costello added: “I’ve always known about Jamie and the conversation I have always had with him is that we need to put more patience into him.

“He needed to create his chances through his boxing and to stop forcing things. The trouble is when you keep winning and you’re underperforming, you think you can win in any fashion.

“Jamie has great belief. He thinks he can beat anything that is put in front of him, so his attitude against Groves was that he was going to win.

“When we met George, we worked on the shot he got caught with for 11 weeks in camp. In that fight, Jamie said he felt a decrease in strength from Groves and pressed too early.

“I told him that Groves could hurt him at any time. Jamie has never been hurt to the body, he said it wasn’t pain, he just couldn’t move.

“Patience cost him a world title and a lot more. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the beating of George and if we learnt anything from the fight, it’s that we know he belongs at that level.”