In September, Jack Catterall tipped his own world on its head in a bid to chase boxing glory. He left Jamie Moore and Nigel Travis, his trainers for the last decade, and his hometown of Chorley, near Manchester in England and traded it for Philadelphia to work with former welterweight world champion Jaron Ennis and his coach and father, Derrick.
3,400 miles away from his family and friends, alone in an Airbnb with nothing to focus on but boxing.
It was a roll of the dice, and an emotional one at that, but one Catterall knew he had to make.
He was comfortable in England.
It was safe.
That's dangerous territory for a fighter.
"I had some deep conversations with close family and friends. We didn't take it lightly," Catterall told ESPN. "It was thought about, it was calculated, and it was hard because ... My old trainers were not just my trainers and my close friends; we consider each other family."
If it sounds sentimental, it is.
But Catterall plunging himself into the unknown shows how badly he wants a world title. After wins against Josh Taylor and Regis Prograis last year, he came up short against Arnold Barboza Jr. in a junior welterweight title eliminator in February. His move to welterweight was marked by an uninspiring debut win over Harlem Eubank in July.
It was time for a change and Catterall's awareness of that should be applauded.
Too often, people take the easy road and stick with what they know. Not only did Catterall leave his team, he said goodbye to his family, namely his wife and their two children, his son just a few weeks old.
There no doubt there would have been some long, lonely nights in Philly. Unfamiliar streets, accents and slang; new sparring partners. A very different scene from the north of England.
Those American guys have that swagger. All that braggadocio not often found in Chorley. It can be too much for some guys, but Catterall is famously reserved and respectful, going about his business while others talk trash. And it was the business of boxing that occupied the mind while he was away.
"I wasn't there on holiday to be flying up and down doing crazy stuff," Catterall says. "It was nice to be able to go to the gym, train, come back, digest it, think about stuff, have stuff in my head."
Boxing stuff.
New tricks and ways of doing things. On Saturday, he'll find out if it was worth it against Ekow Essuman in another important fight when it comes to title aspirations. His wife, as always, will be there, cheering him on.
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"I've got to go out there now and prove that it was the right decision," he says.
Do you feel like you owe her?
"I owe her everything. Everything's for the family. We're a team."
What about Philadelphia? How did the U.S. secondment compare to home?
"Chorley all day," he smiles.
You can take the boy out of England...