Coach Allan “Forty” Rego is confident Nikki Bascome will be ready to finish the job if the opportunity presents itself against journeyman Donny Miller.

Bascome faces Miller, of West Virginia, in a six-round welterweight bout at Berkeley Institute tomorrow night, with Rego admitting he will be more than happy if Bascome ends the show early with a technical knockout.

Although he acknowledges it would be beneficial for his fighter to get rounds under his belt, Rego does not advocate taking unnecessary risks in a sport so unforgiving, where momentary lapses in concentration can be devastating.

“You can go in there, poke around, try to give the people what they want and you get caught, or you get a cut, and then you’ve got your first defeat,” Rego said.

“We’re not taking any chances with this guy. If we can go out there and knock him out with the first punch, as a coach I’ll be happy — I want to win.

“I don’t like hot-dogging; we don’t want try to prolong the fight and if we can get him out early we will do. But if the fight goes the distance, we’ll be there.”

Miller, 39, is a quintessential journeyman; a boxer who has adequate skill but is not the calibre of a contender.

He has, however, won five of his previous nine outings and Rego has plenty of admiration for the role trial horses play in the sport.

“I don’t know much about the guy Nikki’s fighting because I haven’t got anything on him,” Rego added. “It doesn’t really matter too much who Nikki fights because I know he’s ready.

“This guy is a journeyman and sometimes those guys are the hardest guys to fight; they’re often there from beginning until the end.

“You can’t train for someone you haven’t seen, but I’ll get a better idea when I see him at the weigh-in. I’ll just know then as I’ve been in this game for a long time.”

Rego accompanied Bascome to Orlando for twice-daily training camp and said the boxer’s professionalism and dedication had been first class.

“We had to be at the airport for 5.40am to head back to Bermuda and Nikki and Andre [Lambe] were still up at 4am training.” Rego said.

“These guys have given me everything and I’m pleased with the way things have gone so far.”