One is heading into a self-described "last dance", the other is just getting started, but Mark Lucas and Ashleigh Sims are looking to make an in-ring impression on Saturday night.
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In what will be a career first - and last - Lucas will work Sims' corner in her third professional bout before taking to the ring himself for a likely swansong fight against former world No. 8 Jayde Mitchell.
Sims will be looking to bounce back from a stoppage loss to Novocastrian Jessica Adams in her second pro bout, heading down in weight against Canberran Jessica Watt.
Having turned on a four-round barn-burner on debut against Shanell Dargan in April - the bout ending in a hectic draw - Sims admits she was drawn to readily into a fire fight with Adams.
"I didn't stick to our game plan, that's on me, no one else," Sims said.
"I've learned from that and this time, hopefully, I'll listen to my coaches properly, do what I'm meant to do and come out victorious.
"Losing obviously sucks, no one likes it, but I'm not someone who sits there and dwells on it. I'm also a firm believer that if you continue to make excuses, then you don't grow from it.
"We could've found a million excuses for why I didn't perform the way I should've but, at the end of the day, I didn't perform.
"I'm a professional athlete, I need to be able to switch on in those moments and turn off everything else that could, can and has gone wrong.
"I was just keen to get back into the gym and work on the things I know I did wrong."
The boxing ring is the toughest of schools but Sims is learning her lessons in front of a far bigger audience than most novices given the profile of her husband, NRL star Tariq Sims.
It put her thrilling debut slugfest with Dargan on a big stage, but also her first stoppage loss on the televised undercard to Nikita Tszyu's grudge match with Ben Horn in July.
Attention is not something she coveted stepping through the ropes, but she accepts it comes with the territory.
"Pro boxing was was never something that I thought about doing," she said.
"I don't like people coming to watch me, no one came to my amateur fights, so the thought of people coming to watch put me out of my comfort zone. It's something I had to get over.
"I think because of my partner (Tariq) being a professional athlete and having a profile of his own, there was always going to be pressure on me.
"There was always going to be eyes on me and there was always going to be criticism that I was only getting certain opportunities because of who my partner is.
"At the end of the day, I'm the one who has to perform. If I don't perform well, I don't get those opportunities."
While there's inevitably critics, the 33-year-old mother of two is happy to use the platform to inspire other women - particularly mums - to tackle sporting challenges.
"There's a lot of critics out there, there's a lot of critics of females in this sport in general," she said.
"For some reason there are people who want to hold women down and try to put us into a little box and we're not allowed to get out of that box.
"The pressure and the eyes on me, I'm pretty good at tuning that out. It doesn't really faze me. If I can use the opportunity to bring awareness to the sport for females, and for mums, I'm happy.
"You don't have to be 21 to get into this sport. Time is against me, and we have a limited time in this sport to achieve what we want to achieve, but you can still do it.
"If I can use this platform to push that across I'll be pretty happy with that."
The bout at a 54-kilograms catchweight will be the first step on a move down to bantamweight, with Lucas certain fans will see an improved version of his charge.
"She's got immense pressure on her, she's learning on the job in front of thousands and thousands of people under heaps of scrutiny," he said.
"There's people who think they know who she is based on nothing more than the public profile that her partner has. She's not a WAG. She works her f---ing arse off in the gym.
"She's doing it the right way and I think we're going to see a much better athlete when it comes to understanding boxing and when to make the right moves at the right time.
"Early doors, you are learning lessons in camp that haven't fully sunk in by the time you get to competition. Then when something happens you go towards what's automated.
"At the time in that fight, her automatic reaction was still to swing for the fences. She knew what we needed to do, we just couldn't execute it.
"Now with another camp under her belt, 8-10 weeks of sparring and more experience ... I'm confident she'll get a good win and move on from there."
Lucas is equally confident he'll make a fine account of himself against 20-2 veteran Mitchell after a move into coaching re-ignited his passion for the sport. A potential bout with Tokyo Olympian Paulo Aokuso was briefly floated but - with a hard-fought loss to domestic star Isaac Hardman in April last year his only bout since October 2019 - wiser heads prevailed.
"I'm content outside of boxing now, I feel like I've found myself outside of boxing and I don't need to do it anymore," he said.
"I just had a thought one day that I wouldn't mind having a last dance with a happy camp, no negativity surrounding it and go out on another good fight that makes sense.
"Having that thought, I was in the car and I got a call to ask if I'd fight Paulo Aokuso. I said 'get me the right money and I'll fight anyone'.
"They ended getting me decent enough money to make me say 'yes' but, luckily, I've got good people around me that talked me out of it but said 'let's get a good fight to go out on'.
"Paulo's a great kid and in different circumstances, if I'd had a couple of fights, there's no reason I wouldn't have. Then his team actually helped me secure the Jayde Mitchell fight.
"He's highly rated, much more experienced, a former number eight in the world. I'm definitely not underestimating him, but it's just a fight that made a bit more sense given our respective time off."
Mitchell's pedigree is also enough to ensure Lucas would leave nothing in the gym after admittedly needing to shrug off a self-described "dad-bod" having just welcomed son Lenny to the world a month ago.
"I don't have to hold my cards close to my chest anymore, the first couple of weeks were really tough just to get to a point where I could train," he said.
"Every time I started sessions I was getting injured and having to take a few days off, so it was a slow building process.
"Mid-camp I was thinking 'what am I doing, am I going to get it back?' Then three-four weeks ago I went 'bang' and I was back. The timing's back, the speed and fitness is there.
"This would've been a really good fight a couple of years back at the peak of my commitment, but it'll be a really good fight now."
While no fighter ever truly says 'never' the devoted family man is all but convinced it will be his last ring walk.
"I'm not here for a comeback," he said.
"If I have a good win over Jayde Mitchell and it justifies a big fight by the end of the year, it's the type of door that could open.
"If not, I'll just sail off into the sunset again and it'll be for good this time because I'm happy outside of boxing.
"We've just had Lenny and doing a camp with three kids, we've bought into another business now, life's just too busy for it now.
"I've got to commit a lot of time to coaching Ash and all my amateurs, so it's not about me anymore. This was about getting something for myself in before the window really does shut."
Both bouts will feature on a monster schedule of fights on No Limit Boxing's Super Saturday card in Newcastle headlined by Nikita Tszyu's showdown with Hunter local Darkon Dryden.
Albion Park world title prospect Sam Goodman will co-headline the PPV card against 17-1 Queenslander Jason Cooper, while Wollongong's Tywarna Campbell will take on Sims' most recent opponent Adams for the Australian featherweight title.
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
