UNBEATEN middleweight Steve Bendall is following in the footsteps of the country's top boxers in his bid to become British champion.

The 30-year-old southpaw, who has won all 21 of his professional bouts, lines up against Scott Dann in Plymouth on Friday, September 17 when he hopes to lift the national crown.

Poole-based Bendall flew out to his training camp in South Africa early last month and by the time he arrives back in this country from Johannesburg he will have spent more than five weeks away.

And immediately he flies into Heathrow early on Monday, September 13 he will spend a couple of days putting the final touches to his training in London before heading straight for Devon.

Bendall, speaking exclusively to the Daily Echo from South Africa, said: "I am staying in training camp until I get to Plymouth for the fight.

"I want to keep my mind on the job. I don't want to go home. I have to keep 100 per cent focussed.

"It is the first time I have ever been away like this before a fight. I have to put myself in the best possible position to win now I am so close to being at the top.

"The top boxers always go away to training camp to get away from any possible distractions and I must do the same. It is what I have to do."

Bendall added: "Everything is going very well.

"I'm training three times a day, from 6am in the morning when I go running, at 10am when I do pad work and from 3pm when I have a gym session or sparring, depending on what day it is.

"To be honest, I just want to get the fight on. It is hard being out here on my own, but I had to put myself in the best position to win the fight.

"I will have been out here five and a half weeks by the time I go back to England and I am hoping I can bring the British title back to Poole and Bournemouth."

Dann - like Bendall - is a southpaw, but the Dorset based boxer said: "We have had a big southpaw, a South African, out here with me.

"Scott Dann hits hard but I don't think he will have faster hands than the guy I have been sparring against.

"He is exceptionally fast and a hard hitter, so I'll be as prepared as I can be when I go into the ring with Dann.

"The guys I am sparring with are quite used to the altitude, whereas I am always having to get used to it, so it has been good being in Johannesburg in that respect, I am getting the most out of coming here for the altitude.

"It is the first time I have been out here when I have had to go back to Britain for the fight. The other two times I was here, I went on to fight in South Africa."

Tickets for the Bendall-Dann clash are on sale, priced £30, and can be obtained by telephoning Bendall's partner Malaine on 01202 759000.

All tickets have to be ordered and paid for by Wednesday, September 8.