They rammed home their utter dominance in Wednesday's semifinal, streeting the field to head home second-placed Italy by almost eight seconds.
It isn't wise to start shouting the odds before an Olympic final, but if ever a race looked like a contest for the minor medals among the other five crews, this is it.
"In the current era no one has been as dominant as they have," said New Zealand's five-time single sculling world champion Mahe Drysdale.
"They're very impressive. Taking six seconds off the world best time is phenomenal, and whenever you get your competitors to step aside, that's a little win for you."
Murray and Bond roared down the course in their heat last Saturday in a world and Olympic best time of 6min 08.50sec.
British pair Andy Triggs Hodge and Peter Reed, after three years of striving to get ahead and being easily the toughest challengers for the New Zealanders, gave up the ghost this year and moved into the coxless four crew.
They're a contrasting pair, Bond - who sits in the stroke seat - invariably presenting the more serious personality; Murray the more visibly expansive guy with a touch of the amiable larrikin about him.
They've admitted they spend little time together away from their base at Lake Karapiro, proving again that you don't necessarily need to be soulmates off the water to be an overpowering, cohesive force on it.
Tonight they put four years of unrivalled quality on the line in search of the display that will underline just how magnificent they have been over an Olympic cycle.
"We've never been beaten so the limit of our capabilities is as yet untapped," Bond said yesterday.
"We want to put into action everything we've done over the last four years."
Tactically, look for the New Zealanders to head straight for the front from the centre lane. This won't be a race of tactics, at least to their way of thinking.
"We're going out to lead from the front," Bond said.
"That's what we've wanted to do every race in the last four years. It's a lot easier to see crews coming at you."
The challenge for the other finalists, of whom Beijing silver medallists Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen and Italians Niccolo Mornati and Lorenzo Carboncini appeal as the most likely to be closest to the New Zealanders, will be to try to come up with something to unsettle Murray and Bond.
It's a tough assignment. Perhaps go out as hard as they can is the best tactic; but not at the expense of the strategy they believe will best serve their ambition to be on the podium.
As Frandsen put it yesterday: "We know that they are there and they are a fast pair, but we'll be focused on our best 2km race.
"Looking at them will take away from our performance and we need to focus on getting the best race from ourselves."
Four years ago George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle won the bronze in this event in Beijing. Murray and Bond had to watch from the stand, not even having been a part of their own A final.
Their time comes tonight.
* Men's pair final 10.50pm SS6
