Two explosive fighters, each boasting world title wins across multiple weight divisions and guaranteed places in the Hall of Fame, express the fervent desire to settle lingering scores in a high-profile rubber match.
It sounds like a pay-per-view blockbuster if ever there was one. But there will be no cameras from either of the American cable television giants, Home Box Office or Showtime, ringside when the first bell rings on June 24.
Seventeen years ago in Las Vegas, Jeff Fenech stepped up from the featherweight division to fight a draw with Azumah Nelson in Las Vegas. Eight months later, Nelson knocked Fenech out in a rematch in front of 40,000 fans in Melbourne.
Their legacies forever intertwined, Fenech and Nelson headed off into retirement. But the urge for closure has proven too great. Fenech, 43, and Nelson, 49, are preparing to dust off the gloves and engage in the third fight few want to see.
Nelson, probably the best fighter Africa has ever produced, last fought when he lost a unanimous decision to Jesse James Leija in July 1998. But, faculties and finances still intact, he immediately accepted the call from Fenech.
The Australian, now one of the world's top trainers, has not had quite such a happy time in retirement. In his last fight in 1996, he was stopped in the second round by South African Philip Holiday in Melbourne.
Subsequently, Fenech was the victim of an apparently gang-related incident which left him requiring plastic surgery for facial cuts, survived a shooting incident, and was found guilty of shoplifting from a Gold Coast boutique last year.
Strangely, the prospect of a third fight with Nelson was not Fenech's motivation for one of the most unlikely of comebacks. He only turned to the Ghanaian after his original choice, Thai veteran Samart Payakarun, backed out.
Fenech was a ferocious pressure fighter who had already won world titles in three different divisions, announced his retirement twice - the first time as an unbeaten 24-year-old - and come back by the time he first faced Nelson.
Nelson, beaten only by the great Salvador Sanchez, who died in a car crash shortly after their 1982 fight, and welterweight great Pernell Whitaker, had knocked out the great Wilfredo Gomez and held the WBC super-featherweight crown.
Their eagerly-awaited first meeting at the Mirage resort in June 1991 provided a high-octane, all-time classic in which Fenech relentlessly stalked the counter-attacking champion and was covered in blood from the early rounds as a result.
After a duel in which the pair never let up and often transgressed the rules in a bid to get the better of their opponent, most observers felt Fenech had done enough to be crowned world champion in a fourth division.
But scores of 115-113 Fenech, 116-112 Nelson, and 114-114 ensured the contest was declared a draw, providing the first blot on the Australian's record, and leading to inevitable calls for a rematch.
It happened eight months later, by which time Fenech had been installed as clear favourite, understandable given his aggression in the first meeting, as well as the fact that he would be roared on by a huge home crowd at Prince's Park.
But from the opening moments of round one it became clear Nelson was equipped to do something few had considered possible, when he clattered Fenech to the canvas from a big right hand.
Fenech recovered but was never quite able to get to grips with the fight again. He was floored again in the second and largely outboxed until the conclusion, in the eighth round, a flurry of left hooks dumping Fenech to the canvas again.
Fenech was not the same again. He returned a year later and was knocked out by the undistinguished Calvin Grove. After two more comeback wins, he suffered the embarrassment of early defeat to Holiday.
Nelson fared better. He decisioned Grove and world-rated Gabriel Ruelas before losing his title on points to Leija.He won it straight back by stopping Ruelas then went on to stop Leija in a rematch before his career petered out.
Fenech, often outspoken, says he couldn't give a "rat's ass" what people may think of the veteran contest.
"What's the worst that can happen? I get knocked out?" said Fenech, who has worked himself into impressive shape for the fight.
"I've been knocked out before so I can cope with that. Of course people are going to talk but so what? People have always been putting the boot into me," Fenech told the Herald Sun newspaper.
Australia seems to be getting excited about the spectacle, which is a surprise given the farce that ensued the last time two former big names attempted to re-evoke former glories Down Under.
At the age of 48, former world heavyweight title challenger Joe Bugner defeated James 'Bonecrusher' Smith, three years his junior, on the Gold Coast when Smith dislocated his shoulder at the end of the first round.
The outcome was greeted with widespread disdain, something neither Fenech nor Nelson deserve despite their obviously ill-judged attempt to reignite one of the finest rivalries the sport of boxing has ever known.
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