WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade and his upcoming mandatory challenger Liam Williams have traded verbal warnings ahead of Saturday's title bout in Hollywood, Florida, airing live on DAZN across the globe.
Welshman Williams heads into his earned opportunity on a seven-fight win streak after suffering the only losses of his pro journey, both to Liam Smith, in 2017.
And while the unbeaten Andrade is avoided by many opponents, Williams believes he truly has what it takes to shock the world.
“I don’t think he has the same intensity as me," he said in an interview with fight promoters Matchroom Boxing. “I wear my heart on my sleeve. I can punch harder than him. I have a better engine than him. I’m going to bring it all on the night and I don’t think he has the answers.
“He’s a clown. I don’t think he’s wired up right, he’s got a screw loose. His mannerisms, the way he acts and talks on his interviews, he’s just a little bit strange and I can’t put my finger on it. He’s an oddball.
“It’s a risky fight for both of us. He’s the champion and I’m the number one contender. If he loses, the belt goes and that’s his status gone, but the same for me, I’m back to the bottom of the pile, there’s a lot at stake and neither of us will take a backwards step and that’s what will make it a great fight.
“The outcome is me winning, whether that’s over the distance or inside the distance, it doesn’t matter to me. As long as I take that belt back to Britain, I have no doubt about it, I’m super confident and I don’t think there’s any way that he beats me. I think I can knock him out.
“I’ve had setbacks, I’ve had injuries, I’ve been told to retire, so getting my opportunity is a real achievement, but in saying that, this is the beginning of things for me with more massive step-ups and I’m not willing to stop here.”
Andrade, meanwhile, had his own sit-down with Matchroom, and warned that he has seen fighters talk as good a game as Williams so many times, only to come out on top on each occasion.
“It’s one thing to be hyping yourself up and the fight,” said Andrade. “But you got to be concerned with what you are saying and back it up because at the end of the day, I don’t have two losses,
"I have never lost. They call him ‘The Machine’, but when I am done with him, he’ll be ‘The Rust Bucket.
“You’re going to see the same you always see from me - a solid game plan, dominance, landing big shots, an all-around great performance and giving people what they have been missing, the sweet science.
“I don’t think he’s going to just lay down with all the shit talking he’s been doing, but when you finally get here, it’s different. Now you have to fight, and Liam is not going to stop my train. I expect him to bring the fight because this is his opportunity, but at the end of the day he’ll be able to say, ‘I lost to Demetrius Andrade’.
“Everyone says that they are going to do this and that with me, but reality bites, and when I touch them, they fall all around the ring and go running. It’s hard to hit me, they always end the night losing and saying, ‘wow, you are better than we think’.”
Sign up to DAZN now to watch Andrade vs. Williams live Apr. 17, with other huge fights such as Dereck Chisora vs. Joseph Parker, Katie Taylor vs. Natasha Jonas and Canelo Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders all coming up over the next 30 days. (Note: fight fans in Argentina, Chile and Colombia must download the DAZN app onto a device and sign up from there).