Michael Zerafa's looming middleweight showdown with Isaac Hardman has taken on extra significance, with the winner in line to become Australia's latest world boxing champion.
The victor of the world title eliminator in Melbourne on April 20 was already guaranteed to rise to No.2 in the IBF middleweight rankings.
But with Kazakh Gennady Golovkin opting to vacate the division after becoming the unified world champion with a ninth-round stoppage of Japanese fighter Ryota Murata on Saturday night, suddenly the stakes have been raised.
While 40-year-old Golovkin moves up a division to fight Saul 'Canelo' Alverez, a title fight against Brazil's new No.1-ranked contender Esquiva Falcao now beckons for Zerafa or Hardman.
While unbeaten, insiders believe Falcao is a boxer that both Hardman and Zerafa will fancy beating to join lightweight king George Kambosos as an Australian world champion.
With so much on the line, there's sure to be no love lost when Zerafa (29-4, 18KO) and Hardman (12-0, 10KO) slug it out at the Melbourne Convention Centre on Wednesday week.
"Pretty Boy" Zerafa last month claimed "The Headsplitter" Hardman didn't possess the boxing smarts to match him.
"All he relies on is his power. That's all he's got, and he doesn't even have that good of a right hand," Zerafa said.
"I move a lot, I counter a lot and I hit with volume.
"He's going to walk forward and do his thing but I know he can't beat me, he doesn't have the boxing IQ."
But former professional MMA fighter Hardman insisted, while he may not boast the experience of Zerafa, he's no mug.
"From the get-go I've been fighting," Hardman said.
"MMA is the truest form of fighting and I've been doing that since 2014.
"Whether it's kick-boxing, MMA or boxing, it's a fight and I will out-fight that man.
"Let him think I don't have a boxing IQ. He will figure it out when he's laying flat on his back."
