Welsh middleweight Gary Lockett admits he was flabbergasted when told he will fight WBC/WBO world boxing champion Kelly Pavlik on June 7 in Atlantic City, USA. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be ready to spring a massive upset on the boxing world at the famous Boardwalk Hall arena.

“I found out the news a couple of weeks ago and it is about time,” said Lockett. “I think my career was stalling through injuries and what not. But in this fight I am going to be right up for it. I wouldn’t be making the trip across unless I thought I had a genuine chance of winning the fight. I am really excited and really buzzing.”

While Pavlik 33-0 (29) has looked impressive in beating fellow American Jermain Taylor in his last two fights, Lockett 30-1 (21) from Cwmbran, Wales does not believe the 25 year-old from Youngstown, Ohio is unbeatable.

“We will put together a strategy that is going to be really effective,” said Lockett. “There is probably a handful of fighters at the top of the pound for pound rankings that you would look at and you think, ‘I’ve got my your work really cut out, I wouldn’t be able to beat a guy like that’, but I don’t think Pavlik comes into that class. He stands there and he attacks in straight lines. He is a very hard fighter and a dynamite puncher as he records suggests. But I am a puncher myself. We have got fifty knockouts between us. We are going to put together a strategy and we are going to give it our best shot.”

31 year-old Lockett revealed he recently turned down a shot at IBF world champion Arthur Abraham, so bad were the terms of the deal and elected to wait for a fight with Pavlik as the WBO’s No.1 contender.

“The money was really poor and the options that the Germans wanted were absolutely ridiculous,” Lockett said, of the Abraham offer.

While his chances of beating the big punching Pavlik are already being dismissed by many UK boxing experts, Lockett says he knows what he is up against, but don’t write him off just yet.

“At the end of the day I am a massive underdog,” he said. “My feet are firmly on the ground about the subject. For all the fans and all the so called boxing fans out there, the armchair critics saying I am going to get killed in a round or two rounds, I am going to go over there and give it my best shot.”