Anthony Yarde has been here twice before, but insists he will be better in his third attempt at winning a world light heavyweight title on Saturday.
After spirited efforts in both fights, Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) was stopped by Russian's Artur Beterbiev and Sergey Kovalev in 2023 and 2019 respectively. The English boxer rebuilt his career following those setbacks and on Saturday challenges American David Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) for the WBC belt in Saudi Arabia.
Just as he was when he faced the heavy-hitting Beterbiev and Kovalev, Yarde will be the underdog this weekend, but he believes he has improved since those losses. Yarde, 34, from east London, was stopped in eight rounds by Beterbiev for three versions of the world title, after lasting 11 rounds vs. Kovalev. It was Beterbiev's 19th KO from as many fights, but Yarde was ahead on two of the three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
"I'm sick and tired of being the guy who gives people great fights, but loses," Yarde told ESPN. "I need to win this one and upset the odds.
"The main difference between the me that fought Beterbiev and Kovalev and now is experience. If I fought Beterbiev again, I feel I would beat him. Fighting him helped make me a better fighter, no doubt.
"You will have to wait and see just how I have improved. I believe experience was the difference in both fights against Kovalev and Beterbiev and I've gained experience from those fights. In this fight, you will see a better version of me. I know when to put on the gas, and when to hold back.
"I learned a lot from the Beterbiev fight. He's a dog but I learned I'm a dog too - he's one of the most feared punchers in boxing and it was a close fight. I think because of my fight with Beterbiev [WBO, WBA, IBF world champion] Dmitry Bivol decided to fight Beterbiev as he saw gaps he could exploit. I think I exposed a lot in the fight versus Beterbiev because until then we had never seen him get hit as much or be pushed back like I was able to."
Both Kovalev and Beterbiev were feared punchers when Yarde faced them, with higher KO ratios than Benavidez, who will be making his first title defence against the Londoner in Riyadh. In his last fight in February, Benavidez recovered from a late knockdown to win a unanimous decision over David Morell.
"On paper he's not as dangerous as Beterbiev or Kovalev were but you don't know how dangerous a puncher someone is until you get in the ring with them," Yarde told ESPN.
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"Beterbiev was known as a monstrous puncher when I fought him and Kovalev had a very high knockout ratio. But I rate David highly and rate his mentality of fighting anybody, which is like my mentality. He's looked fantastic in some fights and in some fights he's looked ordinary but still gets the victory. We've had respect out of the ring and I like him as a person and when I do respect an opponent like that, that's when you get the best out of me."
Yarde has won four fights since the Beterbiev loss and was last out in April when he unanimously outpointed Lyndon Arthur in a trilogy bout.
"After all the things I have been through in life, this fight could change my life,"Yarde told ESPN.
"I put my foot down in the later rounds, Lyndon was very game, he was in great shape and he has since gone on to win the European title so it was a good win, but I can improve on it."