After becoming the last British boxer to qualify for the Olympics, 16 long months ago, Liverpool's Peter McGrail will be one of the first to step into the ring on Saturday morning.
Scouser McGrail will be the second Team GB boxer in action at 10am UK time, after flyweight Galal Yafai.
But the world class featherweight, who boasts better footwork than a Strictly champion, will face a formidable path to glory in Tokyo.
Thursday's draw pitched Peter in with the vastly experienced Chatchai Butdee of Thailand in Team GB's second bout of the Games.
Butdee is appearing in his third Olympics aged 36 – having previously competed in both London and Rio, and victory for the 24-year-old Scouser would see him come up against either Germany’s Hamsat Shadalov or Argentina’s Mirco Cuello.
McGrail must win at least three bouts to guarantee a medal, and his quarter-final opponent is likely to be the outstanding Cuban, Lazar Alvarez, a silver medallist at the last World Championships who received a bye in the first round.
Peter has brought home medals from the last two World Championships, the last two Europeans and gold from the 2018 Commonwealth Games to his Everton Red Triangle gym on Albion Street in the city centre.
But his featherweight division in Tokyo is fiercely competitive.
McGrail, typically, is using the quality of the opposition as motivation.
"It's fired me up for the Olympics more," he said. "I'm going to be a completely different animal in these Olympics.
"I'm just looking forward to my first fight and performing in front of the watching world. It's going to be special."
Top seed in the featherweight division is Uzbekistan's Mirazizbeck Mirzakhalilov, while underlining just how competitive the division is, McGrail, a bronze medallist at the 2019 World championships, wasn't even seeded.
But McGrail, nicknamed the Scouse Lomachenko because of his fluid style, is unconcerned.
“There are some good lads at my weight in the Olympics, as there are at all the weights, but I believe I am one of the best and, if I perform as I know as I can, then I can beat them all," he added.
“If I were to win a silver or bronze medal then there’s no doubt I would be disappointed for a few weeks afterwards because, when you’ve been brought up as a winner, then that’s what you want to do.
“After that I might look back and as time goes on and be proud of the fact I’ve won a medal at the Olympics for my country, but I’m aiming higher than that.
“You don’t really think about all the great boxers that have been on that stage before. I feel ready to do it and I’m just focusing on the present.
“The only thing I’m going there for is to win a gold medal and I know I’m good enough to do it.”
