Boxing: Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins exchanged final insults at the weigh-in ahead of tonight's light-heavyweight super-fight at the Thomas and Mack Centre in Las Vegas.
Both men tipped the scales two pounds under the light-heavy limit at 173lbs and posed with heads touching at the traditional stand-off before Hopkins jabbed at the Welshman's chest and snarled: "I'm going to bust your heart".
Calzaghe snapped back with a few verbal barbs of his own before being ushered away to begin the countdown to a contest which will establish the winner's status as an all-time great.
The Welshman has laughed off Hopkins' incessant trash talk all week but was plainly a little perturbed by his opponent's latest boast, much to the delight of over two thousand British fans in the Planet Hollywood auditorium.
And his first show of aggression delighted promoter Frank Warren, who said: "That is exactly what I wanted to see. Joe has never been better prepared and I'm confident he will do the job in style."
Common consensus is that Hopkins has the ability to sucker Calzaghe into his type of fight and make it a scrappy affair like the contests against Kabary Salem and Sakio Bika that gave the Welshman nightmares.
But Calzaghe insists his speed, power and youth — he is seven years younger than Hopkins at 36 — will enable him to adapt to combat any threat thrown at him by the veteran Philadelphian.
Calzaghe said: "I can combat any style. It's up to me not to get drawn into his kind of fight because I am by far the better fighter. If I allow myself to do that, then I've made a big mistake.
"Bernard is very well schooled. He'll have done his homework and he knows how I like fighters to come to me. He could make it a dirty fight. But as long as I fight to the standards I did against Jeff Lacy and Kessler, it's over."
Hopkins' retort is that his masterful defensive techniques will enable him to block the majority of Calzaghe's punches and hit back with the big right hands which have accounted for so many southpaws in his career.
"He might throw thousands of punches but I'm a sniper," insisted Hopkins. "If he throws a thousand punches that leaves him open a thousand times. I'm the most accurate and pinpoint fighter there is.
"I'm no Arturo Gatti," added Hopkins, referring to the notoriously face-first Canadian action man.
"Gatti was a great fighter but in a few years time he might be eating his meal out of a straw. He fought without a defence. I've never been cut and I've never been beaten up."
But Calzaghe looks in brilliant shape and is favourite with the Las Vegas odds-makers to extend his unbeaten record to 45 fights and guarantee his passage into the Hall of Fame as one of the finest all-time fighters.
He has finally answered the call to come to America and engage with a fellow superstar fighter and he is confident he will showcase exactly why so many fans in Britain and the rest of Europe rate him so highly.
Calzaghe added: "Fighting out here has always been my destiny, and now is the perfect time to do it. I could have come over here five years ago but I might not have handled it as well as I am now.
"I might be a home boy at heart but I can handle it all. Nothing bothers me about coming here. I came here because of the challenge presented by beating Hopkins on his home ground. Lesser challenges do not interest me any more."