As the great scholars say: fool around and find out.
Rising boxer Alex Hanan was desperate to make his ICC appearance against fellow Kiwi Andrei Mikhailovich a fight to remember, ridiculing his opponent in the pre-fight press conferences in an attempt to build hype for the undercard bout.
Fight promoter Dean Lonergan declared "there's a lot of bad blood between these two" before fight night on Wednesday as the undefeated pair traded barbs in Sydney.
Hanan, 22, promised to "expose" Mikhailovich, calling the Russian-born Kiwi star a "chump mother****er" and making a gun sign at the pair's weigh-in. "I'll drag you into f***ing deep waters, brother," Hanan declared.
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Advertise with NZME.The muddy water immediately spilled over when the pair entered the ring. Hanan copped a boo after throwing a jab at his opponent's stomach when the referee requested they touch gloves as a show of respect.
Hanan fired in some low shots after a strong showing in the first round. He received a warning from the ref, but it wasn't long before his rival took control and delivered his comeuppance. A sharp left hook from Mikhailovich rattled Hanan, knocking him off his feet.
Mikhailovich landed another left hook and knocked him down again. Hanan survived the count but Mikhailovich charged in to finish it with a flurry of brutal blows, prompting the ref to wave the fight off and declare him the victor.
The victory took his record to 16-0 with nine knockouts.
"It's the first time I've seen him fight and I'm incredibly impressed. No wonder he's undefeated," Aussie boxing great Barry Michael said.
"He showed he's got power and he can take a shot. Alex Hannan hit him with some clean shots."
But whatever bad blood that appeared to brew in the build-up was washed away seconds after the stoppage, with Mikhailovich approaching his opponent's corner to share a few words, a hug and, most importantly, a kiss.
"Me and Alex will be friends for life now. Whenever you fight it's all respect afterwards," Mikhailovich said, before calling out the next man to take the ring at the ICC. "I'm a puncher bro, any f**king shot.
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Advertise with NZME."This is what I always dreamed of. Isaac Hardman, let's go baby, any day of the week, you're just an MMA fighter, you're not a real fighter."
Commentator Paul Kent roasted Hanan's performance after his questionable swipe before the fight. The veteran sports journalist said Hanan completely underestimated the strength of his opponent's left hook, which dominated the two-round blitz.
"It was a pretty ordinary effort from Alex Hannan there, after the little jab in the guts," Kent said.
"He completely overlooked his opponent's left hook. I don't know whether he was complacent or didn't rate his power, but he definitely paid the price."
War of words spills over
You've got to hand it to the Kiwi pair, they made sure the night wasn't going to be dominated by Gallen and Huni. As with most great fight nights, the war of words in the lead-up was arguably more entertaining.
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Advertise with NZME.Mikhailovich tugged at Hanan in the build-up, predicting he would be the first to pull the undefeated 22-year-old down a peg. "You know what it is. You're 13-0. I'm 15-0. It's going to be a hell of a fight, right, we can agree on that. It's gonna be fun, we're gonna have fun," he said.
Hanan was absent at one of the events due to a court appearance, which Mikhailovich happily used as fuel.
"He says his 0's not gonna go, but you're f***ing with the Russian. I'm the Russian."
But Hanan took serious offence at that statement: "You ain't a Kiwi, brother. I don't know why you're coming over here taking the Kiwi flag. You're a f***ing mutt is what you are."
Mikhailovich replied: "First of all, you need to watch your language. You need to watch your language."
Hanan responded: "What are you gonna do about it?"
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Advertise with NZME.Mikhailovich replied by promising: "I'll f*** you up."
Inspiring stuff, lads.
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