IT REALLY was annoying this week to get a phone call from Sports Network, promoters of my world super-middleweight title fight with Jeff Lacy, checking on my fitness.

Apparently rumours had been circulating on some internet chat-room that I had damaged my hand again and that the March 4 fight in Manchester was off.

I don't know how such rumours start, but it really is a load of rubbish and all I want say on the subject is that the hand is great, training is progressing well and I am bang on course and looking forward to the contest.

The past 12 months or more have been full of upsets in big fights and there was another surprise last week, though perhaps not a complete upset, when Filipino Manny Pacquiao knocked out Mexican Erik Morales in their super-featherweight rematch.

Morales had outpointed Pacquiao in their first fight and I felt he would do so again, but instead he suffered the first KO of his career.

For me, it was a bit sad as I have always been a big fan of Morales. I like his style and his heart - he's a true warrior.

But he has had a number of really hard fights over the years and though he's only 29, maybe they have taken their toll.

He wasn't his usual self and seemed to tire after about six rounds and took a pounding to the body from Pacquiao, who is an excellent fighter and fought a really good fight tactically.

Nevertheless, I felt Morales was not at his best and allowed Pacquiao to dictate the pace and was caught far too easily.

He changed trainers beforehand and you have to think maybe there was something wrong in his preparations, for switching from a trainer who has taken you to the top is not usually a good sign.

Someone asked me this week if the number of shock results concerned me ahead of my showdown with Lacy and the answer is not at all.

For a start, a lot of people fancy Lacy and actually regard him as favourite. He is the undefeated IBF champion and some independent judges, particularly in America, rate him ahead of me.

So, even were he to win - and I can assure you he won't - it wouldn't be regarded as a complete shock. Even Frank Warren (head of Sports Network) has described the fight as 50-50.

So I don't feel under any pressure and in fact have seldom felt so relaxed going into a world title clash. I have felt under far more pressure going into other title fights when I had far more to lose and nothing to gain and at times I have been criticised for perhaps not winning as well as had been expected, people forgetting that boxers aren't robots.

But in respect of the Lacy fight, he has as much to lose as me, a title, while I have just as much to gain and that's a big plus and a big motivational factor for me.

Finally, just a brief mention of a couple of other fights coming up.

This Saturday, in Berlin, another super-middleweight champion, German Markus Beyer, holder of the WBC belt, defends against Italian Alberto Colajanni.

Until given his chance, I had never heard of the Italian and I think that tells you everything.

Boxing is not that strong in Italy, what boxers they have at the top level are not usually punchers and don't usually have big hearts, so I see Beyer winning comfortably.

Beyer has had a topsy-turvy career but has had a couple of good wins in the past year against Danny Green and Omar Sheika and has seemed revitalised and he will surely win - especially with home advantage.

Also in action again on Saturday on the Michael Jennings v Young Muttley British welterweight title bill in Nottingham is the very talented Amir Khan.

His opponent this time, Vitaly Martynov of Belarus, is supposed to represent better class than his previous opponents, but I'll be very surprised if he causes any problems.

He is supposed to be a durable fighter, so hopefully he will take Khan the distance and help further his education.

At the moment Khan still has an amateur style and tends to fight at a very fast pace all the time and he needs to slow things down a bit.

It's exciting, but his style means he can himself get caught with a lot of shots and though, at the moment, his opponents are not good enough to capitalise, in time, if he doesn't learn, someone might.