MATTHEW BARNEY is expecting the fight of his life after getting the chance to add a European crown to his world light-heavyweight title.

The Southampton boxer returns to the ring on Friday after 11 months inactivity when he takes on Worksop's Simeon Cover at Wembley Arena.

And if, as expected, he comes through this non-title bout without any problems, he will be given a crack at German Thomas Ulrich's European title on October 16 in Braunschweig.

Ulrich is rated number two by the WBC (above Roy Jones Jnr) and represents Barney's toughest-ever test.

The European belt is the only major honour the former British super-middleweight champion has not boxed for during his professional career and he is confident of springing an upset in his opponent's backyard.

"He is a class above anyone I have fought before," admitted Barney, whose WBU championship belt will not be on the line.

"But I've always felt I can compete with the best and this is my chance to prove it. Beating Ulrich would give me the chance to take on one of the champions who hold the main belts."

Barney knows all about upsetting the odds in a hostile environment after he memorably beat former world champion Tony Oakey at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth last October in front of a fervent home crowd.

The other difficulty for Barney is that he will be fighting at light-heavyweight - one division above his natural weight of super-middleweight.

"It means he might punch a bit harder, but he will also be slower and I believe my speed and boxing skills will cause him problems," said Barney.

Ulrich has been beaten just once in 28 fights - and that was way back in 2001 against current IBF world champion Glencoffe Johnson.

Since then, the German has won 20 consecutive fights and has knocked out 15 of his last 18 opponents. His only fight outside of Germany was a bout in Hungary.

But before thinking too much about Ulrich, Barney must first get past Cover at Wembley on the undercard of Friday's IBO world cruiserweight title fight between Carl Thompson and David Haye.

Cover should not present a major problem for 30-year-old Barney, having won just nine fights from 29 outings, but has a reputation for being a slippery fighter.

"I'm sure I will get to him eventually and I have to focus on Friday because if anything goes wrong that could mess up the European title fight," said Barney.

Southampton's only boxing world champion has been out of action since beating Portsmouth's Oakey last October and has been frustrated by a lack of opportunities since taking the WBU light-heavyweight crown and vacating his British super-middleweight title.

Barney will not be the only boxer from Southampton in action on Friday night, with baby-faced Russian Dimitry Donetskiy continuing his professional career at Bethnal Green's York Hall.

The big-punching middleweight will box unbeaten Turkish fighter Gokhan Kazaz.

Lordshill heavyweight Colin Kenna, meanwhile, is still waiting for an operation on his injured arm.