Andy Lee admits his loss of home advantage against Billy Joe Saunders has made their world title contest "a closer fight".
Lee was due to defend his WBO middleweight belt against Saunders in Limerick in the first world-level meeting between two Travellers, but a virus forced the champion to postpone.
The fight will now happen in Manchester on October 10, and both men acknowledge the change of venue could have an impact.
Lee said: "It was very disappointing because a fight in Limerick would have been a dream come true but it wasn't to be.
"It was the right call - I'm going to need to be 100 per cent in order to win against Billy Joe so I had to get over it and focus on my next fight.
"It was a close fight anyway and now it's even closer than it was before. There's a lot of pride on the line and we're going to leave it in the ring."
Saunders was brought up in Hertfordshire but believes he will have the backing of the Manchester Arena crowd.
He said: "Just like it would have been for Andy in Ireland, it will now be a dream come true for me to win a world title on what I consider to be home soil.
"When it gets to the nitty-gritty and you have your fans behind you they can give you that little bit more of a push and bring that extra out of you, so it could be a factor."