HIS face partly cloaked in a dark, hooded top, I'm forced to peer inquisitively to see if it is, in fact, Bradley Pryce bouncing towards me at Cwmcarn gym. Then a beaming, trademark smile illuminates from inside the gloomy exterior as he greets me...it's Pryce all right.

If 'boys' became men by confidence alone, this lad would be the gladiator of the boxing ring because he oozes it by the sweat-bucket load.

Such inner belief to succeed could, to some extent, provide the Cwmcarn fighter with the extra armoury he will need to dismantle Ulsterman Neil Sinclair on Saturday night when he bravely challenges for the British welterweight title in Belfast.

But the 21-year-old reveals that it was the same exuberance that was his undoing come an unwittingly 'defining' night at Cardiff Castle last August.

The warm festival night of boxing was beamed as live across America and was meant to showcase the up-and-coming star's undoubted talents as he was matched with Londoner Ted Bami on the Joe Calzaghe/Miguel Jimenez undercard.

Pryce, though, discovered that on this occasion, confidence bred contempt for his clearly capable opponent as he squandered a 16-fight unbeaten pro record, which had seen him lift the WBO Intercontinental lightweight and IBF Intercontinental light welterweight belts along the way.

Looking drawn and jaded, the light-welterweight contest was stopped in the sixth and final round as Bami dished out too much punishment for the home hero to take.

At the time, Pryce seemed unfazed by the setback in a career being carefully cultivated by Frank Warren's Sports Network empire.

"That's entertainment," he said then. But when we met just days before the biggest fight of his life, Pryce admitted it was indeed a time for a honest revaluation of his work ethic.

"I have to admit that losing in front of my own crown was my worst nightmare," he says with eyes straightening at the memory.

"Every day after that fight, it didn't bother me. I didn't reflect too much on it. But maybe I was not taking boxing as seriously as I should have and certainly not as seriously as I'm taking it now.

"My training was not what it should have been and I wasn't giving it my all in the gym. "I was tired for that fight and I believe that if I trained hard, I would have destroyed him. Put this way, if I fought him now I would destroy him!

"That fight was my mistake. I've learned from it now and I'm taking my whole career a lot more seriously.

"In a way, I probably did need that defeat because before that I was going into the ring and beating people quite convincingly but then my training slipped. I should never have done that but I've learned my lesson."

Indeed, there was no such complacency when the self-proclaimed "Sugar Sweet" executed a tasty fourth-round victory over Edinburgh's Craig Lynch at the Derby Storm Arena just three months later.

Undoubtedly, moving from light-welter to welter under the watchful eye of trainer Enzo Calzaghe suited him and opened up a path to Ulsterman Sinclair whose own rise to prominence has been just as explosive.

But despite discovering a new-found maturity and more time to sweat it out in the newly-opened Cwmcarn gym, Pryce is still not prepared to compromise his trademark arms-down, come-and-get-me style.

Hours of watching heroes Chris Eubank and Prince Naseem Hamed, have brought out the showman in Pryce and, despite repeated warnings by Warren to drop the act and lift his guard, the Welshman is not about to change one iota.

"That's the way I fight," he counters with a naughty-like school-boy grin. "My arms are low but that's when I'm dangerous because I can thrown a punch from any angle and when they connect, I'm sure that Sinclair is going to know about it."

It's hard to argue against a man who, as an amateur, fought 80 times and lost only seven times as he bagged five Welsh championships and a British title at the age of 13 before turning pro in 1999.

Pryce's commitment to entertaining the crowds is admirable and one, if he's successful, will undoubtedly earn him notoriety.

But the less fearless among us, will see it as going into bat without pads on against the likes of Glenn McGrath. It's even more unnerving, considering his respected opponent

Sinclair is renowned for being a big hitter who doesn't like to do 'overtime' but Pryce, again, has Mr Confidence sitting firmly on his right shoulder when challenged about it.

"He (Sinclair) knows the only way to fight and that's knocking people out," he argues.

"When he hits me with his best shot and I'm still standing there and I start firing back with my own punches, that's certainly going to bother him. I don't think that he can fight any other way which is basic, straight punches but I will beat him whatever happens."

Not many would have predicted Pryce would be making the first step on the path to greatness when he found himself stormed and battered after a Bami assault at the castle last summer.

But the boxer who first gloved at the age of nine and mentored by none other than world champion stablemate Calzaghe is back, bold as brass and ready to defy his critics.

For sure, there's no doubt in his mind that he'll be the one standing dead centre proudly holding the British belt high above his head in the aptly-named Odyssey Arena ring come Saturday

"That's my plan," he beams. "And there's no way, I'm not going to be lifting that belt. At nine-years-old, like kids who say they wanted to play for Manchester United, I would say that I will be world champion one day.

"Since that age, I have gone on and got better and at 21, a British title shot has come at a good time for me."

Many in the valley boxing community will be hoping that the timing and the Pryce is, in fact, right come a night of destiny in Belfast.