NICK Blackwell has looked to put the hard yards into the mental side of his fight game ahead of his second British middleweight title defence on Saturday night.

The 25-year-old, from Trowbridge, puts his sought-after belt on the line against Jack Arnfield – a late replacement for Elliott Matthews, who pulled out of the contest with a cut on Friday – at Bristol’s City Academy next weekend.

Blackwell won the Lonsdale belt in May with a stunning seventh-round stoppage of John Ryder at a sold-out O2 Arena but had to rally back from a slow start to do so.

He then experienced the same kind of start in July when successfully defending his belt with a brutal one-punch knockout of Damon Jones in Derby and has turned to seeing a sports psychologist in a bid to soothe his pacing issues.

“I've been seeing a sports psychologist to see if he can get in my head and give me reasons why I'm not starting fast in fights,” said the Trowbridge champion.

“Gary Lockett (trainer) persuaded me to go and try it but it's something I've always wanted to do. Gary gave me a contact number for a guy who's in Cardiff, not far from where I stay, and I thought I would try it.

“I didn't think it would work but it's actually helping me a lot. It helped me after just one session. We'll see how much impact it has on me when I fight but I'm hopeful. It's been really interesting.

“We're not just talking about boxing. We're talking about everything. He gets right inside my head and explores every aspect of my life and gets me to talk about how I feel about it.

“I've never had anything like that before. It's only going to benefit me. It's not going to make me any worse. I think it will give me a mental edge.”

Blackwell has garnered a reputation for improving as fights wear on and the Wiltshire ace is hoping that his relentless stamina will stand him in good stead to see off the challenge of 26-year-old Blackpool man Arnfield.

He said: “I want to go in there and stop my opponent. I never want to go the 12 rounds but I don't go looking for a knockout, either.

“I've always had power but never really used it in the right way. Whenever you go in there and try to get rid of someone, you load up on everything and become predictable.

“You tire and make it harder on yourself. If it comes, it comes. I don't mind going a hard 12 rounds. I've done it before. I'm used to doing that.

“I have that ‘last man standing’ mentality. I like to win fights by knowing I outlasted my opponent and was the tougher fighter.

“If we had the option to go back to the days of 15-round fights, I'd be all for it. It would suit me down to the ground.”