Paul Fleming's boxing was enough to do the talking but his moves outside the ring have ensured he's seized a rare second chance.
The 34-year-old will fight the IBF super featherweight's top challenger Samir Ziani in Dubai on December 17, with victory earning him intercontinental supremacy and a likely chance to fight for a world title shot.
An undercard to Lucas Browne's heavyweight tussle with Mahmoud Charr, the high-profile social event is usually attended by Dubai's royal family.
Fleming (28-0-1) has exploded since ending a two-year absence from the ring.
He earned fight of the year nods for his ferocious last-start win over Jackson England when both men threw more than 600 punches in 10 rounds.
The Indigenous talent and Beijing 2008 Olympian has also embraced his culture, retracing his family steps across Queensland and creating artwork that adorned the Australian team's Tokyo strip last year.
Fleming will again perform a traditional dance in his Dubai walk-out and wear boots painted by mentor, distinguished artist and professional surfer Otis Carey.
"These last three fights speak for themselves and the walk out (in his boxing return against Bruno Tarimo in Sydney) was probably the best in the history of Australian boxing," Fleming told AAP of his new-found appeal.
He said fighting on the Mark Hunt-Paul Gallen card had exposed him to a new audience, Fleming grateful for the platform the former NRL star has created for boxers who had struggled to build a profile.
"For a lot of people, when you miss that boat it's gone forever. But I've rekindled it and shown that all I needed was an opportunity," he said.
"I was the best kept secret who just needed to be put on the big shows. Now you don't even have to be a fight fan to know who I am."
Fleming paid his way to the Olympics, working as a concreter for his boxing trainer on the Sunshine Coast and now runs a gym in Penrith and has six children aged between six months and 10 years.
He said his art began as a coping mechanism for mental health issues and admits he's learnt plenty from a career that's taken a decade longer than it should have to take off.
"I was just a young kid from the bush thankful to be here, but I should have voiced up my concerns," he said.
"I didn't really have a voice, but it's a learning curve for me and I can help other fighters with my story."
He also works in schools and with troubled youth and wants a world title before he hangs up the gloves to focus on his gym and family.
"Ziani didn't have to risk it; he could sit pretty for his world title shot that's right there," Fleming said of the opportunity he's been presented.
"Guys have always struggled to match up to my style ... do you fight me at range? Do you come in? I'm going to ask him a lot of questions on the night and we'll see if he has the answers."
