Rising Kiwi middleweight Andrei Mikhailovich will try to take another significant step towards world title contention, when he squares off with Frances Waitai on the undercard of the Fight for Life.
'The Russian Hammer' has turnied heads, both in New Zealand and across the Tasman, with a string of impressive performances that have caught the attention of the world's best at the weight class.
In the most recent addition to his growing highlight reel, the 24-year-old overwhelmed Venezuelan veteran Ernesto Espana in just the third round of their showdown at Brisbane last month to secure the IBF Pan Pacific title and the WBO Global belt.
That came two months after he'd stopped Commonwealth Games bronze medallist King Davidson inside two rounds.
The finish of Espana was Mikhailovich's fifth straight, extending his undefeated professional record to 18 bouts and elevated his name inside the all-important top-15 rankings with both the WBO and IBF.
Mikhailovich sees his dizzying recent ascent as just another natural step in his inevitable rise to global relevance.
"I truly feel like I deserve it," said Mikhailovich of the attention brewing around him. "I've given my all to boxing.
"For two-and-half years, I didn't see my kids. I watched them grow up on a video call.
"I watched my eldest walk for the first time on video call. Imagine that?
"I was always either at work or training. Now, I have the opportunity to just be a fighter and be a stay-at-home dad, and really be there for my kids.
"Fighting is everything to me. There's no hype - I worked for literally 10 years to get here.
"For a long time, I had nothing. Nobody cared for me."
Adopted from a Russian orphanage and brought to New Zealand as a baby, Mikhailovich's remarkable journey has taken him the breadth of the globe and now he's eager to put his name among lights.
Immediately after his win last month, Mikhailovich showed his ambition by pointing in the direction of Australian No.2 world title contender Michael Zerafa.
Zerafa is currently poised for an IBF middleweight title bout against Brazilian Esquiva Falcao in his hometown of Melbourne in September, but there are still some big fish for manager Dean Lonergan to set up to fry across the ditch.
The most prominent of those may be Issac Hardman, who fell to his only career loss against Zerafa in April.
As far as the uber-confident Mikhailovoich is concerned, the sky is the limit.
"You can't have an end goal," he insisted. "If I put an end goal on myself, I'm capping my ability, and I'm capping who I am and what I'm all about.
"I don't have any goals - one fight at a time and I just let this whole journey unfold in front of me."
His next obstacle comes against the dangerous Waitai, a 5-1 combatant fighting out of the Never Surrender Boxing gym at Thames, and another show-stopping display could catapult him into genuine title contention.
"I have such high expectations on who I am and what I'm about that anything bar an amazing performance is not good enough for me," he said.
"Tomorrow's another fight and it's another man in my way - I need to get rid of him.
"This is a tough fight, so I've got to be really professional, really confident and just listen to my corner, and do what I do best, which is be me - be Andrei Mikhailovich.
"I feel fantastic.Training's been good and I'm always super confident and ready to rumble. Everything I do tomorrow is going to be a clinic, so I can't wait for it."
Join us at 6pm Thursday for live updates of Fight for Life
