There are some fights that you hope will catch fire but in the event turn out to be major disappointments.
Then there are others, like this weekend's IBF bantamweight tussle between Joseph Agbeko and Vic Darchinyan, you just know are going to be can't-miss classics.
Undisputed super-flyweight king Darchinyan is moving up in weight to try and claim a major belt at bantam having proved beyond reasonable doubt he's the main man at 115-pounds.
But in his way stands an African who hits just as hard and is equally as relentless. It's the 'Raging Bull' against 'King Kong', and something's got to give.
The duo have won 58 of 61 bouts between them and most of those wins have come inside schedule, suggesting Saturday's clash won't be going to the scorecards.
Darchinyan has a 32-1-1 pro log and 26 of those wins have come via KO. Agbeko is 26-1 and all but four of his wins have come inside the distance. Both men like a tear-up and if styles make fights this one should sizzle.
'Raging Bull' Darchinyan will be full of confidence after two standout wins in his last two contests. In November last year he annihilated the classy Cristian Mijares to unify the belts at super-flyweight and he followed that up with a fine stoppage win over Jorge Arce in February.
The Armenian (who now lives and fights out of Australia) is pretty close to cracking many observers' 'pound-for-pound' lists but he's got his work cut out here against Agbeko, make no doubt about that.
The 29-year-old hails from the notorious city of Accra in Ghana, a place that spawned the great Azumah Nelson and several other world class fighters down the years.
He now lives in the Bronx in New York and while he doesn't have the resume that Darchinyan has he has beaten some good men since turning over in 1998.
His best win was definitely in winning the IBF strap against Luis Alberto Perez in 2007 and he followed that up with an impressive points success against William Gonzalez in New Jersey last year.
There is only half an inch between the in terms of height but Agbeko is tremendously strong and sturdy for the weight and that could be a deciding factor on the night.
Darchinyan loves to maraud forward but he can be caught and was famously iced by Nonito Donaire in five rounds back in 2007 (his only career defeat).
That was when he was competing as a flyweight so one wonders how his chin will hold out when he gets tagged cleanly by a fully-fledged bantam?
I definitely think Agbeko has an outside chance of a KO win here and at 2/1 he looks a live underdog to me. BUT this fight reminds me alot of Cotto v Clottley, where the underdog is a LIVE dog but the class of the better boxer eventually comes through.
The under is VERY tempting, but I will be taking Vic in a classic and I fully expect to have to go through the Ringer for my money.
10k to win 4k, Big Slick Vic...Good luck all..
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