"This was the big break I'd been waiting for," the Australian super middleweight said.

This offer meant no more mortgage. It meant he could support his wife Tegan and their baby girl Drew. It meant he could fight for a world championship and walk away from an unforgiving sport with his health in tact.

This offer was a title fight against English world champion Callum Smith at Madison Square Garden in mid-2019. This offer could set his family up for life.

Sure, Mitchell was just six weeks out of surgery and hadn't thrown a punch since he went under the knife. He had only just started some light running and admits he was "way out of shape". But he could do this and bow out of boxing.

"I was very tempted to cash in and take that fight like so many Australians have done, but part of me knew I could compete at the highest level and I want to do this properly," Mitchell said.

So that brings us to the St Kilda Town Hall on February 29, when Mitchell (20-1) meets Istvan Szili (23-2-2) in the main event of a National Boxing Series show live on Fox Sports.

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A World Boxing Organisation oriental championship win can send Mitchell surging up the WBO rankings as he looks to earn his shot at a world title with his father and trainer Lenifer in his corner.

The bout with Szili - who Mitchell says is "big, he's ugly, he's ripped, he looks like Thing out of Fantastic 4" - is the Victorian's second time at the top of an NBS card put on by Dean Lonergan's D&L Events in conjunction with Hosking Promotions.

The first was a unanimous decision win over former world champion Stanislav Kashtanov which has proven to be so much more than just another scalp on 33-year-old Mitchell's resume.

"The biggest thing for me was I got to not only prove to everyone else that I belong in the top 10 in the world at super middleweight, but I proved to myself that I could become champion of the world," Mitchell said.

"Nobody has beaten Kashtanov in the fashion I did, no one has completely shut him down on the scorecard. It really proved to me I could become champion of the world, and that's what I needed.

"I wanted to know that moving forward to challenge for a title and to face the best fighters on the planet, you need to know you belong there.

"So many Australian fighters pad their records, they float around the top 15 and they get picked for a voluntary against a champion, and we're simply not ready.

"We haven't had the investment in the lead up, we haven't had the investment because it's just not there, and the National Boxing Series is going to change that.

"It's everything to me. I've dreamt of having this opportunity in Australian boxing but it just hasn't existed. For the past 10 to 15 years, we haven't had consistent boxing on TV.

"It simply wasn't a reality for me to fight a former world champion like Stanislav Kashtanov on TV in Australia. It just didn't exist.

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"Opportunities like that are huge, massive for my career and massive for exposure for our fighters. Right now, Australian boxing is a hotbed for talent."

Mitchell joins world-ranked super bantamweight Brock Jarvis (17-0), cruiserweight Jai Opetaia (19-0), Issac Hardman (6-0) and Liam Wilson (5-0) under the NBS banner.

Any one of them could be bound for the capital when the NBS hits Canberra in June.

"There is so much talent across the board, and we're getting to showcase fighters. Not only is this huge for me, it's huge for Australian boxing going forward," Mitchell said.

"I'm so glad I didn't take that opportunity [against Smith], because now I get to earn that opportunity and do it right. I get to give myself the very best opportunity of realising my childhood dream of becoming champion of the world.

"At the same time I'm securing financial security for me and my family. I'm a father and a husband now, and that's super important to me."

NATIONAL BOXING SERIES

February 29: National Boxing Series: Jayde Mitchell v Istvan Szili at St Kilda Town Hall, live on Fox Sports.