Martin vs Joshua: George Groves to face David Brophy on April 9 undercard

Multiple-time super middleweight world title challenger and former British and Commonwealth champion George Groves is set to return to the ring on April 9, facing David Brophy in an undercard slot on the Charles Martin-Anthony Joshua bill at the O2 Arena in London.

"It's nice to be in a domestic dust-up," said Groves, via Matchroom Boxing. "David is an undefeated fighter so I'm sure he will be coming with a lot of confidence. It's great to be back on Sky Sports and part of a great Box Office line-up. I'm looking forward to it."

Groves (22-3, 17 KO) last fought on January 30, stopping Italy's Andrea Di Luisa in five rounds. He's hoping that his performance in that fight will carry over, and also says that his latest training camp with trainer Shane McGuigan is going nicely.

"I had a good performance last time out against Di Luisa and I will be using that momentum going in this fight. Hopefully I'll get a similar result and we can move on to the bigger fights in the summer," the 27-year-old London native said. "The work with Shane is going well. I think we will see even more improvements. The sparring has been better, the technical sessions have been better. I think that will come out more and more in this next fight.

"I'm sure it won't be long until back in the World title mix. There's plenty of big fights out there for me, and I'm willing to fight anyone, so we will see what routes open for me."

Brophy (16-0-1, 1 KO) is a largely untested domestic-level fighter from Caldercruix, Scotland, whose biggest win came in December against Tobias Webb. The 25-year-old Brophy last fought on February 27, winning a stay-busy fight in Glasgow.

"This is a massive opportunity for me," said Brophy. "I have done my apprenticeship and I have waited patiently for a chance, so this is a great chance for me to show what I can do on an outstanding show.

"I said yes to the fight straight away. I didn't even know how many rounds it was, or anything about the money, I just said yes. I haven't been in the limelight, you never really are in Scotland, so opportunities don't come too often and you miss 100 per cent of the opportunities you don't take."

Brophy knows he's coming into this fight the heavy underdog, and gives Groves his due credit as a contender in the division.

"I don't mind being the underdog. I know people will say I am the underdog straight away, and George is a good fighter and I know that," he said. "But I am more than prepared for this step up and I will give it everything I have got. I feel really confident and I would have taken the fight if I wasn't. I'm not here to make up numbers and that's the first mistake that anybody will make. I'm there to do a job."

This fight joins not just the Martin-Joshua IBF world heavyweight title fight, but another IBF world title bout, as featherweight titleholder Lee Selby defends against mandatory challenger Eric Hunter, and Matthew Macklin will face Brian Rose in a junior middleweight fight, as well.