If you're one of the 50,000 people who's going to head to Docklands to watch George Kambosos fight to become the undisputed lightweight champion of the world on Sunday, keep your wits about you.
You will undoubtedly run into somebody who claims they've been on the Kambosos train since the beginning, they always believed he could do this, they were even there the last time he fought in Australia and they wouldn't miss our George's homecoming for the world.
The second part might be true, but the first one probably isn't. Kambosos last fought on home soil five years ago, in front of just under 1,500 people at Melbourne Pavillion. He knocked out Thailand's Krai Setthaphon in nine rounds, and while he looked as good a prospect as there was in Australian boxing, you'd be forgiven for smirking at his lofty goals, for thinking Kambosos's ambition to become an undisputed champion would be out of his reach.
But now Kambosos is back and nobody's laughing. He's part of the most significant fight on Australian soil in a century, and if he can down Devin Haney on Sunday he'll become one of the greatest fighters in this country's history.
Kambosos goes in as the underdog, but that's not new. It was the same when he outpointed Lee Selby in England in a title eliminator and it was the same when he went to Madison Square Garden and looked sporting death square in the eye, beating Teofimo Lopez in one of the greatest upsets of our time. Doubt him at your peril because, as the tattoo splayed across his chest says, he dreams without fear.
Those dreams have not come without sacrifice, and if Kambosos had ever doubted himself in the slightest he wouldn't be here today because he chose the more difficult and riskier walk to boxing fame and fortune.
When it comes to Australian fighters, there are two basic paths to follow. Most boxers of promise build their name in their home country, rising the ranks by steadily belting other local fighters or whatever other prospects they can convince to come down under on fight cards usually headlined by former NRL players.
They steadily build their name in their home country, accumulating wins and fans and dollars until they feel like they're cherry ripe. And then they head overseas, which really means they head to America, and try their best to handle the sharp jump in quality that comes with it.
It's a viable path, so long as the fighter can make that leap (as Tim Tszyu will be looking to do it if he's able to line up a fight with Jermell Charlo,) but most can't stick the landing, which is why those early days are so important. A fighter can lose in America but still come home and win fights and make money, even if their golden ticket to the very top of the boxing world never came in. It's like getting your eye in with a few early singles before swinging for a six — even if you get clean bowled, there's still some runs on the board.
Kambosos chose a different and more perilous road. Not long after that win in Melbourne back in 2017, he left his home country for the final stages of his development as a fighter, passing up the pay days that could have been plundered in the belief he could one day return as the king, as the dictator of terms, who could force other fighters to come to his place, on his terms, rather than the other way round.
For most fighters, it would be risking everything on a dream that, for all their self-belief, was unlikely to ever come true. Every fighter says they feel destined to be a world champion but it almost never actually happens. But Kambosos bet his boxing life on himself, found a higher quality of sparring partner (including going through 250 rounds with Manny Pacquiao across various training camps), and won again and again when a single defeat would have sunk him.
Boxers are among the toughest athletes on the planet, but fear is part of the sport. Not the fear of getting hurt — that's part of the deal when the gloves get laced up — but the gnawing, internal fear that comes from self-doubt, from wondering if all those times you said you could be a champion was just a lie you kept telling yourself until you believed it.
Kambosos does not know that fear and that, more than his jab or his hand speed or his iron will, is what makes him special. Doubt is a foreign notion to him. It is not right to call him brave, because the only time a fighter can be brave is when he's afraid and Kambosos has remained undaunted through his fire walk to glory. He was certain this was going to happen, his predictions were not destiny but prophecy, and it's been that way long before that night at Melbourne Pavilion and stayed that way long after.
Of course, absolute belief in oneself isn't enough to turn a dream into reality. Kambosos still needed to pull off his incredible upset against Lopez to make it all work, because before that he was not a known commodity among the common Australian sports fan.
In beating Lopez, Kambosos didn't just win a fight, he transformed himself into a superstar, an overnight success that was a lifetime in the making. He proved he's as special as he always believed he was, because Australia has had so many gifted athletes but a world champion is still a rare thing, and an undisputed champion is rarer still.
Only three Australians have ever done it – Jimmy Carruthers, Lionel Rose and Kostya Tszyu – and Kambosos can become the fourth. If Kambosos can bet on himself and win one more time, he goes from being a star to an immortal of Australian sport. This is history, Kambosos is living it, and it's happening right in front of us.
That's why, if you're lucky enough to be going to Melbourne, you'll meet plenty of liars who say they were there right from the start. If Kambosos wins, the 50,000 fans in attendance will double and triple in number as more people say they saw it, that they were a part of the Greek kid from Sylvania's walk into the Australian sporting pantheon. Plenty of people will say they saw it coming, they always knew he could do it.
In truth, only Kambosos knew. Only he was sure, in the face of seemingly impossible odds, that this could happen. Kambosos dreams without fear, and if he has his way he'll never wake up.
