TRAINER Stephen Melton is predicting a "great performance" from his boxer Michael Fafera on Friday night, should the boxer replicate his qualities during his training camp.

Huntington-based Fafera, who currently has five wins from as many professional fights, takes on Latvia's Raimonds Sniedze at the Elland Road Pavilion in Leeds later this week.

The light heavyweight as shared the ring with some world-class fighters during his training camp - most notably the unbeaten two-weight world champion Billy Joe Saunders.

In his final fight of the year, and his expected last four-rounder too, Fafera will be aiming to finish the year on a high.

Melton, who has been working with Fafera since the start of his professional career in September last year, believes fans will be able to see an exciting display from the prospect, should he reproduce his training performances to those of the professional ring.

“Mikey’s looking really good at the minute," said Melton. "He’s probably the fittest that he’s ever been.

"We’ve been out on the road and we’ve done loads of sparring during this camp.

“We’ve been to the Ingle’s gym - sparring Billy Joe Saunders, to Jamie Moore’s - sparring Rocky Fielding and to Amir Khan’s - to spar Hosea Burton.

“Mikey’s been sparring really top end lads and I think that’s where he’s doing a lot of his learning.

“Obviously, Mikey didn’t have much of an amateur background and he came up from the unlicensed circuit.

“He’s picking up everything that he needs to from the sparring sessions. This camp has been our best one for quite a while.

“His fitness levels are really good and he’s very strong now. He’s starting to use his boxing (skills) a little bit more because Mikey used to be quite reckless and he’d always go toe-to-toe and scrap with his opponents.

“In the sparring though now, he’s moving his head a lot more and really thinking about the shots that he’s throwing. When you get in that ring, it’s not all about going in there to destroy your opponent.

“You’ve got to be able to box and to go to that plan B and plan C. It’s all about learning for Mikey.

“If the fight goes the way that the training has been going, then Mikey should put on a really good performance.

Provided Fafera is victorious against Sniedze as expected, the 25-year-old looks set to move on to longer contests in 2020.

“This is going to be his last four-rounder and his last fight of the year," added Melton.

“After this, we’ll be stepping Mikey up to the six-rounders, then eights after that.

But, for me, I just don’t want to rush Mikey’s progression.

“I got a phone call from someone the other day offering us a fight in December, which would have been quite a big step up for Mikey.

“But, I turned it down because Mikey’s not done ten-rounders yet and he’s not ready for those kind of tests yet.

“I’ve been working with Mikey since day dot, ever since his charity fight in order to raise money for his daughter.

“He is learning from his experiences all the time and with each camp, each spar and each fight, we’re always learning

“We’re not in this game to make a quick bit of money, we want to see how far we can go.

"I do believe that he can go all the way.”