Wayne McCullough will take two years of frustration out on Nikolai Eremeev tomorrow night.
Las Vegas-based McCullough, noted for throwing around one hundred punches a round, is ready to steamroller the Russian outsider in Belfast's Maysfield Leisure Centre as he aims to move closer to a showdown with WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison.
Pocket Rocket McCullough, a former WBC bantamweight champion, has described the pain he went through for two years after the British Boxing Board of Control stopped him from making his Belfast return two years ago against Hungarian Sandor Koczak.
The 32-year-old said: "It was a real bombshell. I was all set to fight when the promoter of the show told me there was something wrong with the scan and I couldn't fight. I just sat in the car and cried.
"I just accepted it at first and thought 'it's over'. I don't think it really sank in for a while.
"But when I got home to Las Vegas I was encouraged to get a second opinion so I went to the best in the world and they gave me the all-clear.
"But it still took some time for me to get my licence with the board and that still hurts. I don't why they took so long.
"It was a very hard two years and even before I got back in the ring in Vegas in January it wasn't easy. Just getting through the fight was an achievement."
McCullough stopped journeyman Alvin Brown in two rounds and in September had his first fight on British soil for seven years, stopping South African Johannes Maisa in four.
There was only one place to have his next fight - back in Belfast where his incredible story began, from Irish senior amateur champion to Olympic silver medallist at the Barcelona Games in 1992.
"I would fight in a phone booth as long as it was in Belfast," he added. "I can't wait to feel the support behind me tomorrow night. The Belfast fans deserve big fights and hopefully this is just the start."