In just a few weeks, John Jackson will head to New York for the fight of his life: an HBO Pay-Per-View bout in Madison Square Garden, on a card headlined by two World Boxing Council champions, for the North American Boxing Federation super welterweight title.

Jackson was up for the same belt two years ago, as he prepared to take on opponent Willie “The Great” Nelson on a card headlined by boxing champions Sergio Martinez and Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. Jackson narrowly lost the fight, with the belt going to Nelson, but Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KOs) has pulled him up once more on the undercard of his June 7 bout against Puerto Rican fighter Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31KOs.)

The belt is once again up for grabs, and this time, Jackson is determined to wear it. Jackson will take on seasoned middleweight boxer Andy Lee (32-2, 22 KOs.) The 340 Boxing camp said Thursday at a press conference on St. Thomas that the strategy is to showcase Jackson’s power early on.

“John has to make this guy feel his power in order to be effective,” said 340 Boxing promoter Lesley Comissiong after the press conference. “His job is to connect and I think once Andy Lee feels the force of his power, he’ll go down. One of the things that make a boxer submissive is to feel power from their opponent early on, so John has to go in and get the shots to the body or the head.”

Comissiong said that Lee is only the second southpaw that Jackson has taken on to date and the 340 Boxing camp has been partnering Jackson with left-handed sparring partners.

After the press conference Thursday, Jackson said he feels the training will go a long way in the Garden ring. “I think it’s going to take some good defense and a lot of punches to take this one, so I have to have a lot of aggressiveness coming forward,” Jackson said.

“I do a lot of boxing in the ring, but this time, I’m going to come forward first, and I think it’s going to make the difference.”

Just one look at the Internet boxing blogs indicates that the experts feel the same.

“It’s quite probable that Jackson, 25, will knock Lee out and pretty much finish off his career,” said Scott Gilfoid of boxingnews.com. “A loss here for the slender 6’2” Lee will likely knock him out of the top 15 rankings at 160 (lbs) and put him in a situation where he’ll need years to fight his way back.”

A win for Jackson, however, could catapult him toward the top of the charts in his weight class, second only to the infamous Floyd Mayweather.

Asked Thursday how he feels about the fight, Jackson said a “20” on the scale from one to 10.

“This is the biggest stage in boxing. I’m fighting on a Pay-Per-View card with a worthy opponent,” Jackson said Thursday. “This is going to be a big night with a big showing for the Virgin Islands.”

Jackson’s bout is the first on the televised portion of the card and can be purchased from either Innovative or Dish Network.