EUROPEAN king Craig Evans sees no reason why a shot at boxing’s ultimate prize can’t be on the agenda for him in 2018.

The WBO’s continental lightweight champion must first deal with an eight-rounder in London this Saturday in what will be only his second outing of the year.

Blackwood’s Evans didn't know until this week that he was fighting Mexico's Juan Ocura, a man who has lost seven of his last 10 bouts, on the Copper Box Arena bill, but that wouldn't have bothered the Tony Borg-trained 28-year-old.

After getting the weekend’s international contest out of the way, Evans is eager to hone in on some money-making bouts, including a challenge for world honours.

“I’ll fight on Saturday and then hopefully be out in February or March and again in May, June or July,” he said.

“You take it step by step, get this one out the way and then move on and see who you’re going to fight next.

“Hopefully I’ll have a defence of my title, a world title eliminator or a challenge for the world title which would be good.

“The WBO belt is vacant at the minute because Terry Flanagan moved up to super-lightweight.

“I’m ranked five in the world with the WBO and I can’t see why I couldn’t fight for the belt.

“It would be good to have a crack at the world title – becoming world champion is one of my dreams.”

Evans, who is promoted by Frank Warren, added: “My contract is for four fights a year but I’ve only had two this year.

“Hopefully Frank will get me more next year so we’ll have to wait and see.

“If I only had one fight next year and it was for a world title it wouldn’t be too bad.

“If you’re a world champion and earning money it’s not too bad having two or three fights a year.

“But when you’re on a low income you want to try and get as many fights as you can.”

Having beaten Thomas Stalker in November 2016 to become European champion, Evans defended his crown with a unanimous points win over Stephen Ormond in Belfast this June.

And the Welshman has revealed he was originally set to face former British and Commonwealth super-featherweight number one Liam Walsh on Saturday.

“I was supposed to be fighting Liam Walsh but he pulled out and then the fight got moved to an eight- rounder,” he said.

“It’s disappointing (not to fight Walsh) but it is what it is and you’ve just got to do what you need to do.

“I’ll go and smash this eight-rounder and then move on to the next fight.

“I’m not too sure what happened with Liam but they didn’t want the fight.

“It’s really frustrating and gets you down but you’ve just got to take the rough with the smooth.”