Carl Froch has broken one of boxing's unwritten rules by openly talking about killing his opponent Mikkel Kessler on Saturday.
The Nottingham IBF super-middleweight champion is actually friends with the Danish WBA title-holder and there has never been any trash talk between the pair.
But ahead of Saturday's rematch at London's O2 Arena - where Froch hopes to avenge defeat in their 2010 meeting in Denmark - the Briton sought to up the ante and took things too far.
"On Saturday night, if I have to, I will kill this f****r," Froch told reporters. "Sorry about the language, but I will kill him. It sounds brutal, it sounds horrible, but that is what this means to me.
Froch addresses Kessler at the press conference
"I'm going to leave it in the ring. And when I'm smashing his face in, I am going to go for the kill. I am going to go for the finish.
"As much as we are friends and we are okay who does he think he is coming over here to my country after what I have done in the last three years and what he has done?"
The likeable Kessler responded with a touch more class, tweeting: "@Carl_Froch Says he wants to kill me - thats not very polite :))"
Kessler is desperate to beat Froch in his own backyard and prove his 2010 win by unanimous points decision was nothing to do with him having home advantage.
Froch is in better form, having become a three-time world champion, while Kessler - who holds the lesser WBA 'regular' title - has endured a more turbulent time, retiring with an eye injury before returning to the ring with three fights.
"Carl's ready, I'm ready," said the Dane.
"Someone asked me 'what's in it for you? Why go there and do the rematch?' And I said 'you know what, because this is the fight I want'.
"I don't see a bigger fight in the world right now. I want to fight the best. I shook Carl's hand and said I'm going to come to your home country to fight you and that's why I'm here.
"I'm also here because I want to show him I'm better than him in his own country. I've never lost in Denmark.
"I've never had the IBF belt. I've had the WBC and WBA but I want new things. In life you've got to chase things and I'm chasing his belt. I want to show Carl - and all the boxing fans in the world - that I can beat him in his hometown."
"I feel like I've already boxed.
"This fight is the reason I got involved in boxing and turned professional."