Due to the forecast of rain, the public workouts ahead of Vasiliy Lomachenko’s vacant IBF lightweight title fight with George Kambosos were moved indoors, and as the final stages of the build-up ticked by, the fighters shared as astonishingly long-face off, that lasted more than three minutes and endured through the attempted intervention of heavyweight Lucas Browne.

Ukrainian future Hall of Famer Lomachenko and Australian warrior Kambosos meet ta the RAC Arena in Pert, Western Australia on Saturday night (May 11 local time, May 12 in the U.S.)

“I feel great. Thank you for this atmosphere. I appreciate the Australian people. These are great fans. They understand boxing. This is why they’re here,” said Lomachenko.

“This is going to be a memorable fight. For him, it’s a war. For me, it’s a competition.

“I have a goal. I need this title. My motivation is this title and to be world champion again.”

The 36-year-old is 17-3 (11 KOs) and lost a tight decision to Devin Haney in May in his last fight.

Kambosos is 21-2 (10 KOs) and following two defeats to Haney, he returned with a controversial and narrow win over England’s Maxi Hughes last July.

“I appreciate all the support,” said Sydney’s Kambosos. “We have a big fight on Sunday. We are motivated. We are ready. It’s business time on Sunday.

“The city is buzzing. There is a Kambosos fight going on. I am humbled to bring an event like this to Perth. We are coming to win this world title.”

“Sunday, Kambosos versus Loma. The biggest and the best, and we’re ready for war. I’m coming with everything I have.”

In a world championship special attraction, just before the main event, Great Britain's WBA bantamweight world champion Nina Hughes (6-0, 2 KOs) makes her second world title defense against Australian former world champion Cherneka Johnson (15-2, 6 KOs).

The ESPN-televised broadcast kicks off with the return of Andrew Moloney (26-3, 16 KOs), who takes on Mexican former world champion Pedro Guevara (41-4-1, 22 KOs) for the vacant WBC Interim junior bantamweight championship.