Tony Bellew is hoping to face WBC light heavyweight Chad Dawson after his November 17 fight against Roberto Bolonti, the featured undercard bout on the Carl Froch vs Yusaf Mack bill from Nottingham.
"I want to put the pressure on someone like Chad Dawson to face me," Bellew said. "I am not a lucrative match for people to face and I believe I am maximum risk and minimal reward, so I have to force one of these champions into facing me.
"It might not be a WBC it might be an IBF challenge to Tavoris Cloud, I don't know which it is going to be but all I want to do is become a mandatory challenger, very similar to the way Kell Brook has done it."
Bellew (18-1, 12 KO) has had one world title shot in the past, pushing Nathan Cleverly to the limit with the WBO belt at stake in October 2011. Since then, he's beaten Danny McIntosh and Edison Miranda, stopping both.
Argentina's Bolonti (30-1, 19 KO), he hopes, will be the opponent that puts him in line for the WBC title shot.
"Roberto Bolonti is another step in the right direction, it is a WBC eliminator and it is for the Silver title. He is number five with the WBC and this should propel one of us into the top three in my opinion, so I am hoping to get fast tracked to the WBC and I have stated for a long time that the WBC is the belt I would like to win. I believe it is the best belt in boxing, so it would be a dream come true."
Bellew isn't calling Dawson out and trashing him, though -- he respects Dawson as a fighter and wants to face the man he considers the best in the game at 175 pounds.
"I believe Chad Dawson is the best light heavyweight in the world. I know he had the contentious fight with Jean Pascal but I believe he would have stopped Pascal if the fight would have been allowed to carry on, so I think Pascal got really lucky the cut came when it did.
"I do believe that Dawson is the best in the division and aside from him I feel everyone is on a level playing field. Bernard Hopkins, in terms of experience, is up there with Dawson but as an actual fighter I believe Dawson is proven to be the best light heavyweight out there. But I would be happy to fight him. There is now a blueprint to beat Chad Dawson after what Andre Ward did to him, so I would be happy to go in there and carry out what Ward did to him."
Bellew's fight with Bolonti will be aired on Sky Sports in the UK, as well as Integrated Sports PPV in the United States.