GARY CORNISH is really walking into the lion's den when he faces Big Bad John McDermott at the York Hall - because the English champion has never lost in 17 outings at the famous London venue.

Highland heavyweight Cornish will go head-to-head with the two-time British title challenger in Bethnal Green on July 3 as he bids to move closer to the major championships following his capture of the IBO international crown at Bellahouston Leisure Centre.

The 28-year-old put in a commanding display when stopping Hungarian Zoltan Csala in the fourth round and will fight McDermott, who has not boxed in two years, in a final eliminator for the Commonwealth title, currently held by Lucas Browne of Australia.

McDermott's last fight in March 2013 took place at the York Hall, where he beat Matt Skelton to become English heavyweight champ, but the 35-year-old insists the venue is less important than the fact he has operated at a far higher level than his Scottish opponent.

"It makes no difference to me," said McDermott, who left a training camp in Mallorca to watch Cornish beat Csala from ringside. "I would fight him on the moon.

"Listen, it's all about experience. I take my hat off to Gary and I thought he did really well on Saturday night because the opponent was covering up more than fighting.

"I just believe I have too much for him. I think Gary is a good fighter, but I don't think he is good enough to be in my class. I have too much of a good jab. My boxing know-how is way too much.

"I have sparred with the best in the world. I have sparred with the Klitschko brothers numerous times, I have been to Russia to work with Alexander Povetkin. That is good experience.

"I am not doing this for money. I earn more money in the work I do. I work in bronze. The company I am with maintains and repairs statues and buildings and I have worked on Nelson's Column, Cleopatra's Needle, Big Ben and a number of statues in Scotland. I just think this is an opportunity I have to grab with both hands."

Cornish's manager Tommy Gilmour insists, though, that the Inverness fighter's camp have no fears over travelling to the capital to meet McDermott.

"We have already conquered Westminster," stated Gilmour. "When we get to the York Hall, we will have all the front seats because this is the beginning of the journey to take over the world."

Cornish, himself, has a real 'have gloves, will travel' mentality and is looking forward to meeting McDermott after creating history by becoming the first Scottish heavyweight to win an international title.

"The win on Saturday is still sinking in," he said. "He was a tough guy. He was rated more than 50 places above me and had never been stopped, but I made him look average. To be part of Scottish history is really overwhelming.

"We are now talking about McDermott and that should be a good fight. McDermott has had a few dodgy decisions against him and he is a dangerous fighter, so it should be a good night."

McDermott suffered a controversial majority decision loss to Danny Williams for the British title in 2008, but the roughest call he suffered came when he appeared to have outboxed Tyson Fury the following year - only for referee Terry O'Connor, the man in charge of Cornish's weekend win, to go against him 98-92.

"He beat Fury," said promoter Kellie Maloney, who represents McDermott, and is now involved in guiding Cornish's career. "He was robbed. With all the stress and pressure that night, I actually took a heart attack at ringside."

Maloney, though, is in a much happier place as she looks forward to staging an interesting Scotland-England match-up in London.

"John was the original opponent for Saturday, but we didn't feel there was enough time for him to get ready," said Maloney. "I think it is going to be one hell of a fight. I am sorry that it is in London, but we have to have some venue and it will be nice to bring the Scottish tribes south of the border rather than all your MPs."