After the year of his fighting life, Carl Frampton has promised that 2017 will be even better as the WBA featherweight champion came face to face with Leo Santa Cruz for the first time of fight week on Thursday evening in Las Vegas.
The Jackal's majestic victory over the Mexican in Brooklyn last July was the spur for a raft of prestigious fighter of the year awards in recent months.
But the 29-year-old believes this year can eclipse all that he achieved in 2016 as he outlined his aim to fight three times before year's end.
"Potentially this could be a bigger year. I'm kicking off the year with a huge fight against Leo and it's giving me the chance, early in the year, to squeeze another two fights in. [I could] have [three] instead of two. If I remain undefeated and beat guys like Leo and [rumoured next opponent, Lee] Selby again, and have three fights, it's going to be a pretty great year again."
First though, Frampton has to back up the performance of his career with another pitch-perfect outing here on Saturday night with Santa Cruz scenting swift revenge for the first defeat of his professional life.
At Thursday's final pre-fight press conference the friendly foes stared each other down for the cameras.
"I think going into this fight, I have the psychological edge."
With trainer Shane McGuigan predicting that Saturday's showdown is "going to pick up where it left off", Frampton insisted he already has the upper hand.
"I think going into this fight, I have the psychological edge," he said. "I've already beaten this guy, I've hurt him as well. So psychologically I think I have the upper hand.
"I believe I'm going to get the win.I feel like I'm getting strong, punching harder. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to win the fight. I might have to go into the trenches to dig it out but I'm prepared mentally to do that."
Before defeating Santa Cruz in Brooklyn, Frampton had unified the super bantamweight division, beating Scott Quigg early in the year. Saturday will be just his second outing four pounds up the ladder.
Turning 30 next month, it's clear that featherweight suits the Jackal a whole lot better.
"Two fights ago I was a 122 champion and I was killing myself to make the weight. Since Friday [here], I've trained once a day to make the weight and I'm just relaxed and excited. I'm happy about boxing again," said Frampton, who also feels more dangerous at 126 pounds.
"I feel like I have the power to knock him out. And that's not me criticising Leo as a tough fight or criticising his chin. I just believe if I hit anyone in these weight divisions on the chin, clean, then they can go out."
Vegas has played host to raucous Irish nights of another form of combat sports over the past two years as Conor McGregor took command of fight weeks here.
One of the few end-of-year honours to evade Frampton was the RTÉ sportsperson award which the UFC star took in a landslide, but the two-weight boxing champion has revealed that McGregor is an admirer and the feeling is mutual.
"For combat sports [we're] probably [the biggest two] but I feel that McGregor stands alone. He's a huge name all over the world. He's a massive star, someone who I admire a lot. I'm pretty happy with what I'm doing and the fan base I have," said Frampton.
"We're completely different characters. McGregor is doing his thing. But fair play to him. He seems to be raking it in and why not. I really like him. I haven't met him yet. I'm still looking to meet him.
"He's never been to a fight of mine. But he's watched me a few times, he's sent me a few video message, privately just to wish me luck in fights. He's a good guy. He has this persona but he's playing the game and fair play to him."
McGregor may not be on hand here on Saturday night but he will lead another Belfast boxer into a ring in the near future. Frampton is another excited to see Michael Conlan make the jump to professional fighting, even if he had a word of warning.
"He's a good fighter. he was a very good amateur," said Frampton, who is likely to be in New York to pick up another fighter of the year award the weekend of Conlan's debut in March.
"This is the start of his professional journey. He has all the tools to get to the very very top but it's a completely different sport and we're still to find out...but potentially he could be very good."
Follow Carl Frampton v Leo Santa Cruz with our live blog on RTÉ.ie from 2am on Sunday January 29
