Lee McAllister prepares to fight for the Commonwealth light-welterweight belt in front of the First Minister

As well as a loyal crowd of fanatical supporters in the venue, and the whole of Aberdeen outside willing him on, Lee McAllister will have a very special fan near his corner in the Granite City's Beach Ballroom next Saturday night.

When the Aberdeen Assassin steps into the ring against Isaac Quartey of Ghana to bid for the vacant Commonwealth light-welterweight championship, he will have no less a personage than First Minister Alex Salmond cheering him on, something of a return favour to McAllister, who gave the SNP leader his backing before the election.

There's no doubt that McAllister is sincere in his appreciation of the First Minister.

"Before the election he came in to watch us do a bit of training and spent a bit of time talking to me and the younger guys," said McAllister.

"He's a nice guy, and he's the best man for the job of First Minister. He's 100 per cent behind everything that Scottish people do, and you wouldn't want anyone else in the driving seat."

Expect Salmond to perhaps say a few words - he has never knowingly missed such an opportunity - from the ring before the contest to gee up the likeable McAllister, not that the Assassin needs the encouragement.

For McAllister is well aware that he is giving the First Minister the chance to witness a bit of Scottish boxing history. McAllister is currently the Commonwealth lightweight champion and, by stepping up to light-welterweight, he can set a record as the first Scottish boxer to hold two Commonwealth belts at different weights simultaneously.

"This is going to be a cracking bout for me," said McAllister. "The fact that I can make Scottish boxing history is an added incentive.

"Putting on a second Commonwealth belt would be a massive achievement, and I'm really looking forward to doing that in front of my home crowd."

Those loyal fans are hugely important to McAllister, especially when they have the Beach Ballroom rocking.

"I absolutely love it," said McAllister. "To have all those people turning up and shouting for me and screaming my name makes all the hours in the gym worthwhile.

"When I am in the ring they spur me on and keep me going and I honestly feel that right now I have the best support in Britain."

Quartey's record reads won seven, lost six, drawn one, which would hardly have McAllister quaking normally, but the fact is that Quartey tried too much at a high level too soon, and failed in successive attempts to win the Pan-African title.He then went on to win the Ghanaian light welterweight championship and two non-title fights which means he is going for a fourth victory in a row in Aberdeen.

The Assassin from the city has yet to taste defeat against an opponent from Ghana, having beaten Ben Adomattey, Godfriend Sowah, and Sam Amoako in the past four years. Yet he is wary of his opponent.

"We don't know much about this kid," said McAllister, "but you seldom do about Africans. He's coming here with three good wins behind him, and he holds his national title, so he will be coming to win and put up the performance of his life - but he'll need that if he is to have a chance of giving me a fight.

"It's an opportunity for him to change his life, and change things for the better for his family, so he'll be wanting to win and that is going to make it a massive fight for the crowd.

"I have already beaten three of his countrymen who are his training partners, I believe, so I'm ready to do the same thing to him.

"Like all the boxers from Accra, he will be well-schooled, he will know all the tricks, he will be ready to fight, and his camp will have done their homework, so that should make it a good contest.

"I expect the first few rounds to be about working him out, but after that I will do what I do in the ring. I have all the styles, I can box on the front foot, I can box off the back foot, I can move side to side, and I'm always hard to pin down."

In his last two contests, McAllister has been cut about the head, but is not worried about scar tissue or the like. He said: "The one I picked up against Amoako in my last fight was a little scrape.

"But the one against Istvan Nagy in the fight before that was a bad cut as a result of a head clash, the worst of my career, but there's no problems now."

McAllister has also recovered from the elbow injury that kept him out of boxing for a year, and his training regime has brought him to a peak in time for next Saturday.

At 28, he needs to crack on if he is to gain boxing's big prizes. He said: "Once I've beaten Quartey I will sit down with Tommy Gilmour, my manager, and plan the next fight, maybe for a European title, but just now I'm concentrating only on beating my opponent next Saturday."

As he says, McAllister has to get Quartey out of the road first. Expect the Aberdeen Assassin to win any time after the sixth and make that piece of history.

• There are still a few tickets left. Check www.aberdeenassassin.com for details.