At one point, Deontay Wilder and Oleksandr Usyk were just a single fight away from meeting in a showdown at the Olympics.
The pair stand today as two of the best heavyweights in the world and would make millions if they were to square off.
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However, back in their amateur days the pair almost did it without mega money at stake.
Wilder started boxing relatively late at age 20 and showed impressive progression as he quickly rose through the ranks to claim a place on the USA Olympic team.
He was 22 years old when he represented his country at the 2008 games.
For Usyk, who entered boxing at 15, development within the Ukraine national setup saw him make serious strides.
When he headed to Beijing for the Olympics, he was just 21.
Though they are both heavyweights today, Wilder and Usyk were of course naturally less bulky as youngsters.
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Confusingly though, the amateur boxing system is not aligned with the professionals and so the professional 'cruiserweight' division is known as 'heavyweight' in the amateurs.
Meanwhile the professional 'heavyweight' division is known as 'super-heavyweight' in the amateurs.
At Beijing 2008, Wilder and Usyk were both in the amateur 'heavyweight' division and emerged on the same side of the draw, putting them on a collision course.
A potential semi-final showdown with medals at stake awaited.
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In the round-of-16, Wilder got off to a victorious start by outpointing Algeria's Abdelaziz Toulbini.
Usyk followed up by beating China's Yushan Nijiati.
This put them both into the quarter-finals.
Wilder fulfilled his part of the bargain and overcame Morocco's Mohamed Arjaoui, then attention turned to Usyk who fought in the very next bout.
If he'd have beaten Italy's Clemente Russo, he would have faced Wilder next, but sadly it was not to be.
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The more experienced Italian, and reigning world champion, got the better of Usyk and sent him home from the competition.
In the semi-final, Russo marched on once more as he bested Wilder, who took home a bronze medal.
Following this result, the Bronze Bomber chose his famous nickname and turned professional.
Usyk meanwhile opted to stay as an amateur and headed into another Olympic cycle.
Four years later, he earned the ultimate redemption at London 2012 by beating Russo in the final to win gold.
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Fast forward a decade to 2022, and Usyk is now the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight world champion as a professional.
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He has made it clear that his first priority is to fight for the undisputed titles against WBC champion Tyson Fury, but should this fail to come to fruition then the Ukrainian has named Wilder as the man he would target.
The Bronze Bomber returns against Robert Helenius on Saturday night and so it's possible that once again we are just one fight away from Wilder vs Usyk.
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