By Adrian Warren

Australian boxer Ben McCulloch insists he's ready to step up in class and claim the vacant WBA interim super middleweight title, as he becomes the latest Aussie to test himself against a heavy-handed eastern European fighter.

McCulloch is at least the fifth Australian this year to test himself against the growing number of power-hitters emerging from eastern Europe and Asia.

Heavyweight Alex Leapai, middleweight Daniel Geale and light heavyweight Blake Caparello were stopped in mid-year bouts in the United States by Wladimir Klitschko, Gennady Golovkin and Sergey Kovalev, respectively, who in that order were recently ranked the three best eastern European boxers, by an American sporting website.

"It's not intimidating at all, it's quite exciting to see some eastern European fighters, and European fighters in general, get to the world stage," McCulloch said from Russia.

The bout is for an interim belt as veteran WBA-IBF unified champion Carl Froch has yet to make a decision about his future.

"I'm ready, i've been waiting for this fight for all my life," McCulloch said.

"I'm feeling pretty relaxed and ready for war."

McCulloch said Chudinov hadn't really been tested as a professional and had a typical eastern European fight style.

"He's got a lot of strength, he's got good balance, good distance and a good jab," McCulloch said.

"He's certainly a decent puncher, he's got a nice choppy short right hand."

While Chudinov is potentially McCulloch's toughest opponent, the Australian has in the past sparred plenty of rounds with quality fighters including former world champions Geale and Sakio Bika.