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Munroe has been guided by trainer Jason Shinfield (left) and manager Mike Shinfield

"I could have left two or three years ago but I'm having fun there," Munroe, 30, told ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport. "It keeps me fit and it keeps my feet on the ground. If you do one thing too much, it can drown you. Mixing it up keeps me loose."

Munroe is a former European champion with five title defences to his name, all of them shown live on Sky, which might make his vow to return to his cart even more baffling to some. But boxing is a sport in which only a very few make serious hay, as recently spelt out to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

"There are still only three or four fighters who make what I would call decent money in this country of roughly 1,000 professional boxers," said Hearn, who has promoted Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed in his time.

"Say a fighter gets £20,000 for a fight. Worst-case scenario is the manager says 'I want 25%'. Then the trainer wants 10%. You might have had to pack up work in the lead-up to the fight - there's another couple of grand gone. Then you've got to go to the gym for six weeks and take all your medicals - there's another £1,000 gone.

"Then the day after the fight you're sore, you don't really want to go back to work. So there's no fortunes in this, even if you box three or four times a year."

is four years older than Munroe and has been mixing at world level for a decade. He challenged Thailand's Veeraphol Sahaprom for the WBC bantamweight crown four times between 2000 and 2004, losing twice and drawing twice, so he is nothing if not determined.

An elusive southpaw, Nishioka also has speed to burn, a solid beard and a crackerjack left hand. Munroe readily admits he will have to find a new gear to beat him.

"He's a world-class champion and every time you step up a new level you've got to be better than you were last time," stated Munroe, whose only defeat in 22 fights came when challenging for the British featherweight crown in 2006.

"But we've had sparring partners in who are fast, strong southpaws and the team around me knows what it's doing. Every fight someone comes up with a game-plan.

"When I first saw him, I said to my trainer [Jason Shinfield] 'no disrespect to the guy, but I think I'm going to eat him'."

Munroe is expecting between 200-250 supporters to make the trip, most of whom will be decked out in high-visibility binman vests on fight night, as is the norm for Munroe's bouts. The Japanese fans, a more sedate bunch, won't know what's hit them. "Silent? It ain't gonna be silent when my lot get over there," Munroe vowed.

Even with the Leicester roar behind him at the 10,000-capacity , it will be a tough ask for Munroe, a slow starter who lacks the dimensions of the champion, who in turn has been stopped only once, way back in 1995.

That said, Munroe has no reverse gear and appears to get stronger as his fights grind on, as , who lost to Munroe in a final eliminator in April, will attest. There is a chance that Nishioka, who has fought about 100 more rounds than the challenger, will find himself drowning in the championship rounds.

Return from Japan with the belt round his waist and Munroe won't just be signing autographs on his first bin round back, and he could have a full-scale 'Rocky' situation on his hands. It's just a shame those steps in front of look so weedy.

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