The talking has nearly stopped.
The fighters sat at the end of Bournemouth pier in the blazing sunshine and talked about their fights at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday night.
More than 15,000 supporters will be on hand, the majority cheering on local hero Chris Billam-Smith against WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie.
The fight is very much being billed as the Billam-Smith party.
"I'm coming to make an extremely big statement,” Okolie said. “It’s been about his destiny, his world title, his journey in Bournemouth, but I'm my own man on my own journey and there’s stuff that I want and need and I’m ready to fight for it."
“I’ve shown time and time again I’m ready to take the risk and do what needs to be done. I can say I’m in amazing shape and I'm coming to do a job."
"The way Chris fights, he's always all action. He comes to throw a lot of punches, put a lot of pressure on where he's the home fighter, he's going to have 15,000 people screaming for him, hoping that he can dethrone me. So I'm going to have to be devastating and he's going to make it very easy for me."
“Lawrence is obviously a very big one-punch puncher,” admitted the challenger. “But if you look at my last fight it shows that I can punch. Any fight against Lawrence is dangerous because he can punch and he's got long levers so you have to take educated risks and you've got to really work hard to get the shots off you need to do. That's what we've been doing the whole time. I don't expect him to stand there and trade with me. He knows he can't do that. I imagine he's going to be trying to keep it long and move his feet. The hard thing with Lawrence is getting in position. So we know what we've got to do.”
The fight between former gymmates and sparring partners has captured the imagination on the south coast. Both were trained by Shane McGuigan, who still works with Billam-Smith, while Okolie is now trained by SugarHill Steward.
“I’ve asked Lawrence about his sparring with Chris Billam-Smith and he didn’t give me much but I was okay with what he gave me,” said Steward, indicating that Okolie had just given him a knowing nod.
McGuigan said: “They both had a lot of success. Let’s see who does it best with the small gloves on.”
Elsewhere on the card, the almost always exciting Sam Eggington meets 20-0 prospect Joe Pigford.
Eggington has been the well multiple times, but said he is not fussed about Pigford’s reputation as a puncher.
“I just train for me,” he said. “I don’t train for their boxing. I train for what I’m going to do in the ring. I’ve got my game plan and it hardly ever changes.”
Relaxed, Pigford said: “It’s a fight I’ve been calling for a while, a big breakthrough fight. Same likes to come forward and have wars and I think that plays into my hands.”
There’s an attractive domestic clash at super-lightweight between Bournemouth’s Lee Cutler and Stanley Stannard. Cutler was tagged in a Billam-Smith social media post seven years ago saying that one day they would both be fighting at the stadium, and now here they are.
“I’m buzzing for it and what a place to do it,” said Cutler. “Stanley has not been in with anyone, he might be really good, he might not, but I’m willing to risk it all.”
Also on the bill, 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Karriss Artingstall takes on Jade Taylor in a battle of unbeatens. Taylor said being a full-time mum of two has prepared her for battle, and the respectful Artingstall said she was expecting a good fight and that, as a pro, she has been improving putting combinations together.
