This Saturday in Manchester, the career of either Amir Khan (19-1) or Marco Antonio Barrera (65-6) will unravel before our very eyes.
What injects this unravelling with such great tension is that for the former, it would end a long and formidable career as a champion across multiple divisions, but for the latter, it delivers a lifetime sentence of what-ifs and what-could-have-beens.
Although only 22, Khan must be acutely aware that losing to Barrera on Saturday will terminate his competitive capital at world level. A hero in Britain, that capital was already heavily devalued with an intelligent left-hook by Colombian fighter Breidis Prescott in September of last year.
The former Olympic silver medallist crumbled on the 54-second mark, and with him fell Britain's vision of an implacable boxing wunderkind.
Since then he has convinced his country fellows, and many more besides, that what they witnessed that night was a hiccup and no more.
He easily eliminated Irishman Oisín Fagan in time for Christmas (though presumably the season went uncelebrated in Khan's camp) and from the spectator's perspective looked good doing so (but like Christmas, there was some fodder for the cynics: Fagan's left fibula was broken during the first knock-down).
Following that victory, an eruption of surprise met the announcement that Khan would be meeting Mexican legend Barrera in March.
It seemed to suggest that the new Khan, under the tutorship of trainer Freddie Roach, was once again willing to take on the world. Could the Bolton boy transform himself into a man before our very eyes?
His promoter Frank Warren would appear to believe so, if we are to go by the title of this spectacle: 'Coming of Age'. But boxers are not characters out of Collodi's Pinocchio. Habits and traits are formed early (Khan first donned gloves at age eight) and flaws are not easily ironed out of a fighter's technique.
There are also the inherent "natural" weaknesses that afflict even the greatest pugilists. Khan's combustible chin needs no introduction here.
I must admit to also feeling some surprise when I found Khan's name nestling next to that of Barrera's for a lightweight bout. Surely he should be nursed toward re-ascension via less challenging opponents?
But from Frank Warren's perspective this bout is a stroke of brilliance. The last thing he needs is another top-name former-Olympian getting knocked out by an unknown (Audley Harrison's recent pounding at the hands of Martin Rogan springs to mind).
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