Larry Olubamiwo will be under no illusions when he steps into the ring with Sam Sexton tonight.

The Hackney heavyweight, 10-2 (9), had to pull out of his last scheduled contest with Dereck Chisora due to illness, but expects the Sexton fight to be an even harder match-up.

'I have a lot of respect for Sam and regard him as a better technical fighter than Chrisora,' said Olubamiwo, who was set to fight Chrisora last month before a virus ruled him out.

'I have been training solidly since July focusing especially on my conditioning and technical attributes – I know this fight is going to be very tough.'

The 'War Machine' has not fought since suffering an embarrassing first round stoppage to John McDermott last February – with Olubamiwo being dropped to the canvas twice before the referee halted proceedings.

'There was no game plan set out for the McDermott fight and everything went wrong due to being under prepared,' revealed Olubamiwo. 'But I have a new trainer now in David Pereira, and I will not be making the same mistakes like that ever again. On January 13 you will see a polished and upgraded War Machine.

'If people think I am chinny it will be to their detriment.'