Joseph Parker acknowledges his rematch with Dereck Chisora in December is a must-win, but it's a familiar theme for the former WBO heavyweight champion.
The Kiwi boxer has booked the first rematch of his career against the battling British heavyweight veteran, who Parker beat by decision back in May.
That win improved the Aucklander to an impressive 29-2 record, with five straight wins since dropping the only losses of his career against Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.
Sitting comfortably inside the top five of the WBO, WBC and IBF rankings, Parker is as close to a title shot as he has been since the 2019 loss to Joshua in Cardiff.
So to risk that for a rematch against the dangerous Chisora seems rife with danger with a loss realistically a career-killer for Parker.
But confident he can improve on his performance in May, a raw and honest Parker says it's about putting in an impressive, decisive performance and earning a potential title eliminator in the first quarter of 2022.
"Look, my career is always on the line," he tells Newshub.
"I felt that in the [Junior] Fa fight, in the first Chisora fight and it'll be there again.
"Each time it is more and more intense. Look it's no secret - I have to win and win well - I have to put in a dominant performance otherwise what is the point in me fighting if I don't look good and can't improve?
"If there is no improvement then I have to ask myself if there is more left in me or am I done."
Currently stuck in lockdown with the rest of the wider Auckland area, Parker is mixing parental duties with daily workouts in his state-of-the-art home gym.
And with a December fight date locked in, the 29-year-old reveals to Newshub he will have a full fight camp in place with new trainer Andy Lee.
"The plan is to head to Las Vegas next month for the Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder fight, I won't be in camp with Tyson because of all the COVID precautions, but just to be around that fight, around fight week is important for me to soak that in as I build to my fight.
"After that we will head to the UK or Ireland - probably Morecambe in the UK at Tyson's gym and continue working with Andy. And that'll be a 10 week camp, which is great. It means we can take our time and continue to work on all the little improvements we are tyring to make - I'm excited about that.
Despite some doubts about Parker's ambition to climb to the top of the heavyweight division again, there is no doubt the motivation is there to prove the critics wrong.
"It's easy to say, but I am telling you that I have never been more motivated to get back to the top.
"Right now I am giving this sport everything I have. In the past, I would fight, then go out, eat, get fat and then try and get back into shape again. That's in my past.
"If I can't get a decisive win over Chisora then I guess I'm not good enough, but you will see in December that I'm ready."
