Nathan Ross says he is not interested by the lure of a $20,000 windfall for best knockout but still wants to turn heads and prove himself as a boxer when he makes his professional debut in Sydney on Wednesday night.
The former Newcastle Knights fan favourite will relinquish a height, reach and weight advantage to opponent Justin Hodges when they clash in a heavyweight bout on the undercard of the Paul Gallen-Darcy Lussick main event at the Star Event Centre.
Ross and Hodges butted heads during their weigh-in face-off on Tuesday with Ross vowing to be "in his face again" right throughout the four rounds of the fight.
"I'll be the hunter," he said. "I want to bring an uncomfortable pace and pressure to the fight that he is not going to enjoy.
"He's probably going to try and keep me at range because that's what you do when you are the taller guy but when you've got someone that wants to engage, it takes away all that leverage.
"He'll try and keep me at bay with his jab and he's got a nice sharp jab and a powerful right hand but I'll be in his face, busy and just wear him down. Everyone knows what happens to power when fatigue hits.
"He'll fire away but I'll have the foot movement to negate his right hand. He's got the weight and height advantage but I'll just be too quick for him"
The offer of a $20,000 bonus from promoter No Limit Boxing for the best knockout on the card won't change Ross' tactics going in.
"That's just white noise for me - Justin might be thinking about it but it won't come into my thinking at all," Ross said.
"I've got a game plan and I'm going out there to box. No doubt Justin wants this fight to be over early, he wants an early night and has already said his plan is to knock me out and wake me up and have a beer afterwards.
"But me, I'm going to drag him into deep waters and that's where I will get success. I want this to go long. I've done that many rounds in my fight camp that I don't want this to be an early night.
"I want to enjoy every single second of it and if it goes to a decision, I want to win convincingly every round.
"What I really want is for people to see me box and go 'holy heck, the Ross Dog can fight' - he's not just another wild one throwing haymakers and looking for a knockout.
"I want this fight to be the start of something. I want to make a run with this now and see where it takes me."
Ross said nerves won't be a factor.
"I'm excited but not nervous, probably because I know within myself how well I've prepared for this," he said. "And it's not like rugby league where there are so many variables to deal with.
"I'm not taking him lightly. I've had two amateur fights in seven years so he is a more decorated fighter than me at the moment. But I'm super confident."
