Australian heavyweight champion Ben Edwards has bulked up to counter the artillery of veteran Peter Graham in the first defence of his national title.
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The Canberra boxer will be put his belt on the line when he takes on Graham at the Hellenic Club on Saturday night.
Edwards has had a longer-than-usual preparation after taking time off to recover from his emotional victory against Hunter Sam in a points decision in February.
The 30-year-old has added five kilograms to his frame to tip the scales around 120kg and put himself through a punishing training regime, including boxing 75 rounds per week, for the past three months.
Edwards knows Graham is a different proposition to Sam and will be more inclined to fight fire with fire in the middle of the ring.
"For the style of fight I'm going to have with Pete, I'm right where I want to be," Edwards said.
"Pete's not a runner, he's going to come right for me, so I'm very happy to have that extra three or four kilos behind every punch.
"Fighting a guy like Hunter Sam, I would prefer to come in at 115 because I will be running after him."
Like Edwards, Graham has a long history in kickboxing, with the 39-year-old looking to go out on a high in his last professional fight in Australia.
"He only fights one way - he walks in and throws his punches," Edwards said.
"He's not the most skilful guy, he's not a big puncher, he's not the fastest guy, but he's a real fighter and he always comes to fight.
"We'll meet in the middle and we'll see what happens."
Edwards has concentrated on his strength and conditioning so he can absorb the physical punishment coming his way.
"I used to do boxing training three times a week. Now I've been doing it five nights a week," Edwards said.
"And the amount of food I've consumed, it's not human.
"I've done 75 rounds a week for three months, that's an awful lot of punching.
"I've put on a ton of muscle on my arms and my strength has gone through the roof."
Edwards wants to be fighting every two months, but took some time off after beating Sam to recharge the batteries.
"It was such an emotional build-up for the last one, it was hard to get focused again," Edwards said.
"My dad's health problems we weren't really sure, he was touch and go there for a bit, we weren't sure he was going to make it.
"To win it in my home town having him and my mum there was very special."
The title fight between Edwards and Graham is the main event of a seven-bout card of boxing and kickboxing.
The semi-main event is between Canberra's Dave Toussaint and Joe Rea for the NSW super middleweight boxing title.
Doors open at 6.15pm with the first bout at 7pm.
