Jeff Horn, dressed immaculately in a grey three-piece suit and purple tie, wandered on to the stage with a briefcase containing the prized WBO welterweight belt. Frank Greaves, the articulate and outspoken trainer of English challenger Gary Corcoran, took his seat armed with a laptop.
Horn came dressed for a dinner party. Greaves was spoiling for a fight. What followed was mayhem, the sort of press conference that encapsulates the sport of boxing and the madness that tends to shadow its every move.
Things started to go awry when Phil Murphy, a property developer and Horn benefactor, strode to the lectern.
Murphy, also a minor shareholder in the Brisbane Broncos, stood only a matter of metres from Corcoran and proceeded to outline why the Englishman had made a mistake in accepting a fight for the WBO welterweight world title.
He claimed Horn would win and win easy. He apologised to Corcoran before he informed him it would have been safer had he stayed at home and saved his face from the damage that was about to be inflicted on it.
Corcoran whispered something in the ear of his other trainer Peter Stanley. On his other flank, Greaves smirked. Clearly, they were less than impressed.
They would get their turn and when it came, they lobbed some grenades of their own.
Greaves comes from boxing blood. He fought himself and his brother Johnny was the very definition of the boxing journeyman, fighting 100 times as a professional for just four wins.
?Let me start by saying I respect Jeff as a fighter ? they don?t give away world title belts,? Greaves said,
?Let?s get one thing straight, and like I say I respect Jeff as a fighter, he is physically strong and he is tough, but he is dirty. There is absolutely no question that he is dirty. All I want is a level playing field.
?Gary can go into the trenches with anyone in the world.?
Cue the laptop. Greaves turned it towards the audience, which aside from the media was made up largely of Horn friends and family, and asked them to focus on the screen.
What followed was more than a minute of footage from Horn fights, which Greaves suggested provided evidence of Horn?s tendency to lead with his head.
?Watch this and tell me he doesn?t lead in with his head,? Greaves said. ?Leading in with his head, leaves his head in there all the time. You can see what he is doing. I just want to draw attention to that fact. Provided we get a level playing field we win the fight.?
Greaves then stood up and walked over to Horn, handing him a cap with a boxing glove on the front, the intimation again that the champion had a tendency to use his head as a weapon.
?All jokes aside, it is going to be a hard and tough fight,? Greaves said. ?I have told Gary it is going to be the hardest fight of his career. We respect you but we are better than you in all departments.
?I haven?t got a problem with him being dirty. I don?t mind a dirty fight at all. In fact, I welcome it. Gary can fight dirty with the best of them. I just want a level playing field.
?That compilation was not just from Manny. Those fighters Jeff was in with, maybe they aren?t the type of fighters to react. What I am concerned about is that Gary will not allow himself to be bullied like that.
?When Jeff gets down and dirty, Gary will get down and dirty with him. My concern is we will be the ones to get the points taken off them.?
Greaves insisted he would speak to the officials before the fight. He will address a rules committee meeting today after the weigh-in.
He will take up the issue with referee Benjy Esteves Jr ? a man who has controlled some of the biggest fights and fighters in the sport?s history ? before the bout.
Greaves sees it as protecting his fighter. Horn?s trainer Glenn Rushton suggested it was a sign of weakness.
?To me, they are just back-pedalling,? Rushton said. ?They already have an excuse for why they may not win. They are looking for excuses. We?re not. We?re just saying we?re ready, let?s dance. I see it as a sign of weakness.
?One of the things I say to fighters is … don?t make excuses for why you are going to lose. We have no excuses, we are ready.
?On the night, we will see who is the best man. I already see who that is.?
By this time, Horn was ready to leave. The WBO champion, still looking immaculate, picked up his briefcase and made his exit. He would save his biggest blows for the ring.
