Naoya Inoue was inspired after touching down on the canvas in an arena where upsets were only too familiar.
Inoue found himself flat on his back for the first time ever in just the opening round of his undisputed title defence against Luis Nery for the first time in his career.
2
But the pound-for-pound superstar rallied and dropped his opponent twice, before closing the show with a vicious one-punch KO on home soil at the Tokyo Dome.
The venue has notoriety in boxing with heavyweight icon Mike Tyson famously dropped and stopped by Buster Douglas in February 1990, inflicting one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history and downing a seemingly invincible figure.
For a minute, it looked as if Inoue could face the same fate but he revealed the knockdown inspired him to a ferocious and destructive comeback.
He said post-fight: “This is the first Tokyo Dome boxing event in 34 years, I’m so happy to be here.
Read More In Boxing
“A big surprise happened in the first round! You can say that again.
“Actually, that happening gave me good motivation and attention.
“I don’t remember anything that my dad told me during the intermission [after the knockdown], but that motivated me and gave me focus until the end of the fight."
It was the first time the sweet science had graced the walls since Tyson's devastating loss, and a seismic upset would have been an eerie coincidence had it have happened in Inoue's headline act.
2
At the time, 'Iron Mike' had become one of the biggest stars in the sport, becoming the youngest ever heavyweight world champion aged 20 with a 1986 demolition job.
Tyson had racked up a win streak of 37 wins, but Douglas took the underdog tag in his stride, despite being knocked down himself in round eight.
Naoya Inoue channels inner Max Holloway as he showboats and taunts Luis Nery before brutally knocking him out
Similarly Douglas recovered from the ground to drop Tyson for the first time and close the show in the tenth, but he was certainly on the other side of the fence to Inoue.
He achieved boxing immortality stealing the undisputed crown from the hands of Tyson, who was unable to unify all of the world titles during the three-belt era for the remainder of his career.
Tyson appeared to have lost his indomitable persona, with fellow greats now fancying their chances of toppling him under the bright lights.
The ferocious puncher did go on to achieve big things however, including headlining huge events against the likes of Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and other star names.
Most read in Sport
Similarly, Inoue has made big achievements as he hits age 31, having won world titles at light-flyweight and super-flyweight in 2014 to commence his time in the professional ranks.
He then graduated to bantamweight in 2018 where he unified all four-belts as undisputed champion by the end of 2022, before most recently making the switch to super-bantamweight.
After a quickfire path through the division, Inoue now stands as undisputed super-bantamweight champion in 2024 with some huge fights still ahead of him.
Read More on talkSPORT
It begs the question how far he can go given what he has already accomplished, with a world tour likely to be his next assignment.
Inoue has already confirmed his plan for the next fight, with talks advanced to touch gloves with IBF mandatory challenger Sam Goodman at a stadium in Australia.
Boxing WhatsApp channel
Get the latest fight news, reaction and the best opinion from talkSPORT pundits in our Boxing WhatsApp channel.
Follow our Boxing channel HERE.