The diplomacy came to an end on Friday, as Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev engaged in a heated war of words after hitting the scales on the eve of their main event fight for Joshua's WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles at the SSE Arena, Wembley, live on Sky Sports Box Office in the U.K. and Ireland and on DAZN across the rest of the globe.
Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs), who hasn't fought in a year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic after regaining his titles from Andy Ruiz Jr. in Saudi Arabia, weighed in only slightly heavier than he did for that fight, at 240.8 lb. Ruiz rematch aside, it's the leanest the champ has been since his rookie year in the professional ranks.
Bulgarian challenger Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) had quite the vocal following throughout the ceremony and weighed around a pound less than his opponent at 239.7, which is his lightest for several years.
As the two went face-to-face for the routine photo opportunity, however, the 39-year-old launched a final attempt to get into Joshua's head the day before they do battle over 12 championship rounds.
Most of what he was barking into the face of "AJ" was tough to make out, due to the protective face coverings they were required to wear as per pandemic protocol. Whatever it was, the champion took exception and was visibly annoyed at his mandatory.
It took the entire on-site security team to force the duo away from each other as the altercation refused to die down. As Joshua left the stage, Pulev could audibly be heard shouting: "Tomorrow, I show you. You know I'm right, you know I'm better."
His shouting continued even as online coverage hosts Chris Lloyd and former world middleweight champion Darren Barker attempted to summarise and wrap things up. Moments later, they were joined by Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who was right there in the middle of them throughout and made out some of the comments that were exchanged.
"It was weird, I wasn't expecting it," said Hearn. "Just wow. It was brilliant.
"A lot was said up there. Pulev kept saying 'you're nothing, you've beaten nobody, I'll end you tomorrow,' and Joshua bit, he replied who has Pulev beaten?
"If anyone thinks that was staged, I've got the skidmarks to prove it wasn't!"
The chief support bout pits Joshua's friend and fellow Olympian Lawrence Okolie (14-0, 11 KOs) against late replacement opponent Nikodem Jezewski (19-0-1, 9 KOs) for the WBO International cruiserweight title and, presumably, the right to face Krzysztof Glowacki for the vacant WBO world title at 200 lb.
Glowacki was due to take on the Rio 2016 Olympian in Okolie's first world title opportunity, only for a positive COVID-19 test to rule Glowacki out of the show and insert an additional hurdle on the Londoner's path in the form of Jezewski.
Both men weighed in just inside the cruiserweight limit with Okolie at 199.8 lb and Jezewski at 199.7 for a fight that is likely to see one competitor lose their unbeaten record.
A pair of intriguing heavyweight dust-ups also take place on the undercard, with Hughie Fury (24-3, 14 KOs) stocking up to his heaviest weight of 247.3 lb but still giving up a considerable amount to seasoned opponent Mariusz Wach, who gave a reading of 274.35 for a 10-rounder, which neither man can afford to lose if they want to earn another world title opportunity.
And Martin Bakole (15-1, 12 KOs) vs. Sergey Kuzmin (15-1, 11 KOs) is regarded by many as the fight that could steal the show. Kuzmin tipped the scales at 258.45 lb, around seven pounds heavier than the 251.4 lb Bakole.
Also on the show, Kieron Conway (15-1-1, 3 KOs), came in at bang on 160 lb for his super-welterweight catchweight contest with Macaulay McGowan (14-1-1, 3 KOs), who weighed in at 158.5 lb.
Albanian prospect Florian Marku (7-0, 5 KOs) had to remove his boxers behind a towel to squeak inside the welterweight limit for his eight-rounder with Jamie Stewart (9-2, 0 KOs), while the card's opening bout has Qais Ashfaq (8-1, 3 KOs) weighing in at 124.25 lb and opponent Ashley Lane (14-9-2, 1 KO) at 122.4, above their usual super-bantamweight threshold of 122 lb.