OK, so you never heard this one from us, but Errol Spence Jnr was training inside a Sydney gym only a few days back, sweating through that customary first shake off after arriving Down Under, when, suddenly, he noticed a fight playing on all the TV screens.
And not just any fight, either.
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No, from all around the gym, and at every angle, Spence was confronted by replays of that last time he stepped into a boxing ring, three years ago.
Which as you may recall, didn’t exactly go great.
Which likely explains why, immediately, ‘The Truth’ started demanding as much.
According to the whispers, furiously tossing his jump rope down, or something like that, before then questioning loudly, and colourfully, if maybe this was behind subtle ploy to get him off his game?
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After all, such subterfuge isn’t uncommon in big fight weeks.
Although often, it’s far less subtle.
Just ask Jeff Fenech.
That greatest of Australian fighters, and now sometime trainer, who can tell you all about taking Skinny Hussein to fight Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines 26 years ago, then getting dumped in a joint two hours from the venue, with no air conditioning, and which had incredibly loud music playing right outside on fight eve – like maybe someone had even hired a band?
Of course, it got much worse for the boys, too. With Carlos Padilla, the referee that night, revealing only recently how when Skinny dropped Pacman in the fourth, bang … well, he deliberately prolonged the count to 18 seconds.
“I am Filipino,” Padilla conceded four years ago, when finally fessing up to one of the greatest robberies ever. “I prolonged the count. I know how to do it.”
Which again, goes some way to explaining why Spence stood in the middle of that Sydney gym calling foul.
At 36, The Big Fish knows better than most about winning.
And what it takes to be great.
So let somebody take the mickey?
Nah, you give your opponents nothing.
Ever.
Not a break. Not a handshake.
Not even the pleasure of running your 2023 loss against Terence Crawford on a big screen.
Wonderfully, Tszyu knows this, too.
A truth proved by how directly he looks you into your eyes when promising to take one.
Which is exactly how it went for us at Wednesday’s media day.
“Yeah, I’ve said it,” Tszyu said at one point, referencing that recent promise to target Spence’s left retina.
The same one, you likely know, the American damaged in sparring four years ago, and subsequently required surgery on.
“And do I want to smash his eye? Yes I do,” Tszyu continued. “Do I want to smash his body? Yes. Smash his head? Yes.”
Tszyu sends Spence warning | 02:32
So as for Spence suggesting since those comments crossed a line? And have led, in turn, to the ongoing fight build saga around handshakes, or lack thereof?
“Well, what does he want?” Tszyu continued, shrugging now. “Am I supposed to say ‘OK, Errol, you just go ahead and punch me?’.
“That’s what it feels like. It feels like Spence just wants me to bow down.
“But I don’t bow down to anyone. That’s the reality of this.”
Which again, is also something Fenech knows more than a little about.
And goes to the heart of this Sunday’s blockbuster.
Understanding that after having now lost three world title fights, and twice switched up coaches, and camps, in the past year, Tszyu has finally gone and found a man who, as the kids say, will bring out that dawg in him.
In Fenech, truly, you have a fella who lives like he fights.
Forever existing on the inside, throwing punches in bunches.
More than anything else, this is what he is gifting to Tszyu.
Sure, all the critics are questioning if Fenech will force ‘The Phoenix’ to fight like him.
But know this partnership, it’s less about styles and more about mindset.
“For me, Jeff is like Wayne Bennett,” Tszyu says, referencing the most winning of rugby league coaches.
Told Bennett has made a career of getting the best from young men, Tszyu grins: “There you go … and that’s what Jeff is doing for me”.
‘Cause pain!’ Spence-Tszyu: The face off | 08:34
So forget taking an eye.
In Fenech, you have a fighter who pressed until his rival’s soul would take its leave.
But Errol Spence?
Well, plenty have tried that already, right? With everyone not named Bud Crawford failing, too.
Undeniably, Spence knows the lengths a man must go to for greatness.
And similarly, the lengths required to keep it.
Which is why he dropped that jump rope only a few days back inside the gym.
Was this a Team Tszyu ploy? Or promoters No Limit?
If someone was seeking an edge, sorry, Spence wasn’t giving it.
So say what you like about his body after three years out. Same deal, those instincts that will, one day, see him enter the Hall of Fame.
But please, don’t say Spence’s mindset has waned. Even a little.
And neither it can, right?
Understanding this Sunday’s No Limit blockbuster, it’s something akin to one of those Spaghetti Western shootouts.
You know, where the winner gets the girl while the loser rides off in a pine box.
And for proof, consider how cold this week’s Face Off interview was between Spence and Tszyu. Or how when it comes to the first four, maybe five rounds … well, everyone is tipping fire.
And good luck finding someone who doesn’t have a prediction.
For Tszyu, they say, a win sends him straight back to Las Vegas, baby. At best, a world title shot. And at the very least, another bumper payday.
Yet lose, and more than Shawn Porter is saying he should retire.
Same deal, Spence.
Tszyu permanently moves to middleweight | 01:07
So bring on Sunday, right?
Because while Australian boxing may occasionally get itself a little, err, freaky – think Paul Gallen fighting twice in a night – it also has a knack for producing genuine global slobberknockers.
And it’s been this way too for almost 120 years, or ever since America’s Jack Johnson travelled Down Under to become the world’s first ever black heavyweight champion, defeating Tommy Burns in 1908.
Most significant fight in Australian sports history? Probably.
Which is itself some claim when you think about Jeff Horn upsetting Pacquiao inside a heaving Suncorp Stadium. Or before that, Danny Green dusting Roy Jones, and as a 9/1 outsider.
Of course, not all nights have been so great.
A truth proved by cards like the one where Antonio Tarver stopped Green, Azumah Nelson bested Fenech and George Kambosos dropped wars with Devin Haney twice, then Vasyl Lomachenko.
And now, we have Spence versus Tszyu.
A fight which, as Paulie Malignaggi suggested this week, “has more questions than answers”.
Asked about Roy Jones Jnr’s take that, to win, Tszyu must stop his rival within the first four, maybe five rounds, and Malignaggi shook his head.
“Don’t agree at all,” he countered. “Errol’s been out three years, so who knows what he’ll be like beyond six rounds.
“But listen, Roy may be right. Although at this point, anyone could be right. Nobody knows what is going on …”
All of which brings us full circle to Spence demanding answers in that gym.
Answers he got, too.
With apologetic staff quickly explaining how, sorry, but all the TV sets in here are connected to what is effectively a loop of old championship fights that nobody has control over.
Which ironically for this generational talent, meant simply a case of poor timing.
A truth which ensured, next day, Spence was back inside the same Sydney gym.
Sweating. Working. And readying for that fella who wants his left eye.