Tyson Fury first fought a former cruiserweight world champion 11 years before his upcoming clash with Oleksandr Usyk.
In February 2013, a young, 24-year-old Fury travelled to New York to make his American debut as a rising heavyweight contender.
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His selected opponent was 25-5 former IBF cruiserweight king Steve Cunningham.
Having moved up to heavyweight, he was seen as a fitting opponent for Fury to overcome in his 21st pro fight.
However, Cunningham had other plans and gave the Brit serious problems in their bout.
The veteran outboxed Fury for much of their fight and landed a massive overhand right which dropped him in round two.
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It took a monumental effort from the future heavyweight world champion to battle back, using his size and strength to ultimately bludgeon Cunningham, stopping him in round seven.
When Fury made a 2018 appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, he named Cunningham as the toughest fight of his career.
“I come out all confident, run straight onto an overhand right – down," Fury recalled.
“I was looking up at Madison Square Garden’s roof and I thought, ‘F*** me, get up.'
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“Believe it or not, this is gonna sound strange – Cunningham was the hardest fight I ever did have in my whole career, amateur or professional. The reason being he was very slippery.
“The way I explain Cunningham – it was like a Conger Eel all full of oil in front of me. I couldn’t pin him down.
“He was light on his feet, he was weighing 208lbs or something. He was a slick, talented boxer and I tried to walk him down using my size and power, but he was just outboxing me.
“What I’m good at – boxing, moving, slipping and sliding – I couldn’t do against Steve Cunningham because he was quicker than me. It was like he was a better boxer all round than me...
Tony Bellew believes Tyson Fury stood a better chance of beating Oleksandr Usyk before making two major changes
“After he got tired I hit him with a heavy body shot in round seven and he didn’t recover and then I pushed his head back and knocked him clean out with a right hand."
Usyk will no doubt be looking to replicate some of Cunningham's success on May 18, though won't want his fight to end the same way.
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