THEY could quite easily be the Jack and Victor of Scottish boxing.

But Joe Ham has revealed he knew he wanted to star at the SSE Hydro with pal Stewart Burt after watching STILL GAME in the state-of-the-art Glasgow venue.

Gorbals fighter Ham will step into the ring this Saturday for the biggest night of his life as he faces Paul Holt on the undercard of Ricky Burns’ super lightweight world title contest.

As well as the likes of Willie Limond and Charlie Flynn, the 24-year-old will also be joined by close friend and gym buddy Stewart Burt.

The Newton Mearns man migrated over to the professional game in 2014 and still remains undefeated as he heads in to his match up with Robert Asagba this weekend.

Ham and Burt have known each other for years coming through the amateur ranks together, and the pair even went out to LA back in March after appearing on the same show at the Glasgow City hotel just a few days earlier.

Now they will swap a hotel function room for one of the biggest arenas in the country, and Ham knows he is in good company.

“It will be like a wall of noise coming down on you,” he told SportTimes. “I’ll embrace the atmosphere but won’t let it get to me.

“I’ve been in the Hydro for Still Game so I know what it’s like. I think there will be 8,000.

“When the place was getting built it was a landmark and iconic view. We didn’t know if we’d get the big time boxing here because Ricky had fallen away, but when he came back and we had this opportunity we were all buzzing.

“Stewart’s a big dafty! Every night we train, I probably see him more than I see my girlfriend.

“We are training Monday to Friday, we go out running at the weekends and we are in LA and Marbella together.

“We got on really well and we’re good mates. If you weren’t good mates and hated a guy you had to spend all that time with, you’d end up punching his heid in.

“Luckily we’re all good and I’m glad he’s getting the chance to prove what he can do on a big show as well.”

During that week-long trip to LA, Ham and Burt spent time at the Wild Card gym, a favourite of boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.

While they didn’t bump into the Filipino legend, they did run into former England and Liverpool star Jamie Carragher, who spent time watching the Scots duo in the ring.

“He was in the gym when we were sparring in the first day, it’s madness,” said Ham. “We were chatting away to him and he was a great guy.

“There’s no chance he’s getting a free ticket, though!”

There may be no title up for grabs for Ham, but it does not diminish how important Saturday’s match up with Holt will be as he takes giant strides towards the top.

WIth the guidance of his dad Joe Ham Snr, the Scot remains undefeated in his seven fights, claiming an impressive five knockouts along the way.

He is understandably keen to continue this progression.

“It’s been kind of non-stop for the past 10 weeks, but it’s been good,” said Ham.

“The press conference for the fight took place when me and Stewart were on the plane to LA, so we’re looking forward to the build up this week.

“There’s not many Glasgow boys. Ricky is Coatbridge and Charlie is Motherwell, but I’m Glasgow-based. I’ve sold 300 tickets so it will be amazing for me.

“Everyone is going to get behind the home boxers and we all want to do our thing in the under card. Obviously the main thing is all about Ricky.

“If he wins it’s the chance for more big nights, if he doesn’t then we need to wait another couple of years back in hotels. But we want to build through and keep going because we want to get to where he is.

“It’s all about keeping it going, and keep on winning.”