Boxing is, at its heart, a desperately solitary sport.
Sure, it takes an increasingly diverse entourage to get a fighter prepared for a contest: trainers, physios, promoters and sparring partners all play their roles.
But once the training camp is over, the ring walks are done and the referee calls for the seconds to leave, it's just the boxer staring down his opponent inside the square circle.
Even those pre-fight training camps can be lonely, monastic experiences for fighters as they hunker down and dedicate themselves to the brutal craft of pugilistic punishment.
But for Australia's boxing twins, Andrew and Jason Moloney, support is never far away.
Jason meets Vincent Astrolabio in Stockton, California, for the WBO bantamweight crown on Sunday, May 14 (AEST).
One week later, Andrew takes on unbeaten Japanese southpaw Junto Nakatani (24-0) for the WBO junior bantamweight (52.1kg) strap in Las Vegas.
Identical twins, with identical 25-2 records, fighting for an almost identical prize — the WBO world championship.
"Very exciting times, especially with both of us fighting for world titles," Andrew told ABC Sport, sitting alongside his brother, from the pair's training base in Las Vegas three weeks before the fight.
"That's been our dream, for us both to be world champion, for a long time.
"To have the opportunity to do it one week apart is really special."
'Make a movie of it'
Despite 32-year-old Andrew and Jason being identical twins, they fight at slightly different weights: Andrew in the 52.1kg super flyweight division and Jason in the 53.5kg bantamweight class.
"We made a decision back in the amateurs for the 2010 Commonwealth Games," Andrew said by way of explanation.
"Obviously we both wanted to go to represent Australia, so I did the right thing and was a great brother and said I'll starve myself a bit more and go down a division and you can take 52 kilos, which was probably our more natural weight.
"I starved myself down to 49 kilos … which was extremely tough, so I say that the year that I starved myself that much, I stunted my growth and Jason became naturally a bit taller and now that difference in weight is a little bit more natural.
"It works out perfectly that super flyweight is a great division for me and bantamweight [is good] for Jason.
"And it just so happens that we've got identical records and we're both fighting for the same title just one division apart. It couldn't have worked out any better the way it's all gone to plan.
"Now we've just got get the job done and then we can make a movie of it all."
Representing Australia in New Delhi may have been the primary reason for the different weights, but mum also had a pretty big say on the brothers not meeting in the ring.
"Mum's very quick to say no [to us fighting]," Andrew said as Jason grinned alongside him.
"Mum's not too keen on it," Jason agreed.
That's not an uncommon factor with boxing's brothers — of which there have been plenty at the highest level.
Heavyweights Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko famously never fought each other when they both held versions of the world title.
Tim Tszyu's propitious opponent Jermell Charlo, along with his twin brother Jermall, both currently hold world championship belts at light middleweight and middleweight respectively.
Tim's younger brother Nikita is rising through the light middleweight ranks himself, although Tim has previously said he will not fight his little bro.
Perhaps more pertinent to the Moloneys, the weight-comparable Mexican greats Manuel and Rafael Márquez also achieved brotherly boxing immortality without exchanging blows.
Fighting a week apart 'perfect'
What makes the Australian pair so distinctive is their parallel rise to the pinnacle of the sport, often fighting on the same cards.
In fact, the Moloney's have fought on the same card 21 times in their 27-fight career — a feat that has not always been easy for them.
"It can be quite hard, because obviously we care about each other, we have trained together every day. I know how much effort Andrew has put in, he knows how much effort I've put in," Jason said.
"When you're warming up for your own fight, particularly if you're second, it's hard to try and stay in the zone and think about yourself and be selfish when you can't help but be worried for your brother or hope that he's going to go out there and get the job done and win.
"So it's a little bit distracting, but it's something that we've had to get used to.
"We've had success doing it, so it's not as if we can't fight on the same night, but the way it's worked out this time is just perfect.
"The stars couldn't have aligned any better. I can go in there on May 13, the full focus is on me, I don't have to worry about Andrew, all I have to worry about is getting the job done and becoming world champion.
"The moment that you've dreamt of your whole life is that moment when you actually become champion of the world and have that belt put around your waist, and we can all share that moment and celebrate it as a team and just enjoy it for what it is, and then we have a full week where the full focus is on Andrew, it's all about him and he can focus on himself and there's no distractions.
"It's written down as an incredible fairytale story and now we just have to go out there and make sure we achieve the dream and win our fights and write the fairytale."
Third time lucky, or bust
Jason's fight will be first, when he takes on tough Filipino Vincent Astrolabio (18-3) in California.
"I've been studying him for a little bit and he's coming off some pretty good wins, he's in pretty decent form," Jason said of the 26-year-old Astrolabio.
"He's coming off a win against a Cuban [Guillermo] Rigondeaux, a two-time gold medallist at the Olympics — that's a fight he wasn't expected to win.
"Then he had another fight against a Russian [Nikolai Potapov] in a world title eliminator, another fight he probably wasn't expected to win.
"He's gunna be hungry. It's every fighters' dream to be world champion so whenever you're fighting for a world title, they don't come easy."
For Jason there is extra pressure, given that this will be his third time challenging for a world belt having previously suffered defeats to former IBF champion Emmanuel Rodríguez and pound-for-pound great Naoya Inoue.
It speaks of Jason's own talent that despite those defeats he is still ranked so highly — number 1 in the WBO and 2 by both the Ring and the independent Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
He understands though, that he may not get another chance.
"I've had two opportunities to fight for a world title in the past and unfortunately fallen short both times, I've gotta make sure that it's third time lucky and I win this belt because not many guys in history have had four opportunities to become world champion and he holds the threat of wrecking my whole career," Jason said.
"I know it will be a hard fight but I'm doing absolutely everything I can to make sure that I win this fight because the risk he poses is that he wrecks my career.
"So there's a lot of pressure and a lot on the line but I've done everything I can and I know I've got what it takes to beat him and be champion of the world."
Andrew will be ringside in Stockton, as he always has been, something which he says will add to his motivation when attention shifts back to the Nevada desert the week after.
"I'll be in Jason's corner … watch him achieve his dream and become world champion and … on May 20 when I become world champion as well, we celebrate together."
In Vegas, Andrew faces an incredibly tough prospect in unbeaten Japanese southpaw Junto Nakatani (24-0) on the undercard of one of the most anticipated fights in world boxing, Devin Haney vs Vasyl Lomachenko for the undisputed lightweight titles formerly owned by George Kambosos.
"I think it's just going to come down to who wants it more," Andrew said.
"He's been world champion before, as have I, there's a lot on the line.
"A loss in boxing does put you back a long way so that's something I'm not prepared to do.
"It's a must-win fight and that's the way we've treated it this whole training camp.
"Each day that goes by [I'm] becoming more and more confident that I'm gunna get the job done and we're both gunna go home with these title belts sitting on our laps on the plane and home to celebrate with all our friends and family.
"There's no doubt that [Nakatani's] got a unique style, he's quite tall for the weight, he's a southpaw, I haven't fought a southpaw in quite some time but thankfully we've had quite a long time to prepare for this fight.
"I've had great sparring and … I'm very confident and comfortable with southpaws in front of me."
Australian boxing still rising
Australia has always had a smattering of world class fighters, from Lionel Rose through to Jeff Fenech and a number of others besides.
But now, Australian boxing is booming.
Jai Opetaia is the IBF cruiserweight champion, Tim Tszyu holds the WBO interim junior middleweight belt and is the mandatory challenger for undisputed world champion Jermell Charlo. On the women's side, Ebanie Bridges is the IBF bantamweight world champion, while Cherneka Johnson holds the super bantamweight version of the belt.
Michael Zerafa, Liam Paro, Sam Goodman and Skye Nicolson are also climbing the ranks in their respective weight classes.
Andrew says that he and Jason have both been passionate about growing the sport in Australia and know that the only way to continue the rise is by winning.
"It wasn't so long ago that Australians were, especially when they fought overseas, just opponents, but that's really starting to change now," Andrew said.
"We've had multiple world champions over the years and, if it all goes to plan, Jason and I will become world champions one week apart, two world champions added to Australia just one week apart in an incredible month, and Aussie boxing then shines a big light on the whole world scene and we'll have four or five world champions just in Australia, which is just insane.
"If you heard that a couple of years ago you would have thought they were kidding but it really is on the rise.
"And we've got even more Aussies just right behind our tail at the moment who will be fighting for world titles in the next couple of months.
"Australian boxing is absolutely flying and that's something we're very passionate about and we really are doing everything we can to bring these world titles home and then we can put on these big events in Australia as well."
Jason added that fighting on the undercard of consecutive massive events in their home city of Melbourne was "really exciting" but the motivation was to take the next step and headline the next major event.
"That's something that's always motivated us and we've been working hard to make that a reality," Jason said.
"Last year was really exciting for me and Andrew to be involved in the Haney-Kambosos fights: Fighting at Marvel Stadium and fighting at Rod Laver Arena, two of the best venues you could ever fight at and for us, just a dream come true to fight at those venues.
"But, as exciting as it was and surreal it was to walk out to those stadiums, it was always in your mind, I want to be headlining those, not just fighting on the undercard.
"That is something that really does motivate us and excites us is to headline shows and to bring the mega fights down under to help keep growing the sport and the whole country get behind us and appreciate what us fighters are doing.
"If we want to headline our own shows in Australia we need world titles.
"And we're gunna go out there and get them."
