Orange fighter Charlie Bubb ready for WBC light heavyweight world title bout

But, the short turnaround hasn't stopped the 23-year-old Orange product from signing the dotted line for his next fight as he'll make his long-awaited return to the Muay Thai scene for a WBC light heavyweight world title bout.

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Set to take place at Perth on Saturday May 29, Bubb will square off with Scottish-Australian George Mann, a rangy southpaw who Bubb's touted as one of his trickiest opponents yet.

And unlike many of his former rivals, Bubb considers Mann a friend. But of course, that won't stop him from doing whatever it takes to get the strap in eight week's time.

"George [Mann] is a legitimate number one in the world," Bubb said.

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"He's the cream of the crop and he's coming up from 76kg and we're going to fight for the vacant title."

Even though Mann traditionally fights at a lower weight than Bubb, he possesses a considerable height and reach advantage, something the 'Smiling Assassin' will need to train specifically for.

"It's going to be tricky," he said.

"Walking straight forward and trying to put pressure on won't work. We're going to have a good game-plan for this fight, and we're going to be ready.

"Every fight I want to fight smarter. I want to put a bit of a focus on countering more. There's definitely a lot of things to still improve on."

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Bubb would never look past an opponent, but the main reason he wants to win a belt isn't so he can put it around his waist for the first time, it's so he can defend it, time and time again.

"The last couple of guys have won it but they haven't defended it," he said.

"I want to hold the title for a while and to be able to defend it. I'd love to get some fights overseas or defend it on home soil.

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"We've been ranked in the top three for about 18 months and we've been wanting to fight for nearly two years."

He's spent a couple of weeks in Orange celebrating his victory but as of Monday, Bubb was up at 4.30am doing his usual road runs to kick-off an eight-week camp. "I was fighting some demons, that's for sure," he laughed.

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