Paddy Barnes was the first Irish boxer to qualify for the Beijing Olympics and he could be the first Irish competitor to win a medal when he fights Poland's Lukasz Maszczyk in Tuesday's light flyweight quarter-final.
The bout, which will take place at 7pm local time/12pm Irish time, will see the pair renew old rivalries and Barnes cannot wait for it.
'I'm really looking forward to the quarter-final fight. The Pole beat me in my very first international so I want to put one over on him,' said the Belfast man.
Barnes is banking on his previous experience of the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games to help him chalk up his second win at the Workers' Indoor Arena.
'I got to the quarter-finals of those Worlds (last year), I got to the quarters of the Commonwealth Games and now I'm in the quarters of the Olympics.
'I better go one better this time. But I think I can. I've improved a lot in the last two years and I'm a lot more experienced.'
After gaining a first round bye, the 21-year-old scored a 14-8 victory over Ecuadorian Jose Luis Meza in his opener in Beijing and despite some rough patches, he insists it was a confidence-building success.
'I was a bit sloppy at times but that was my first fight and it had been a long week,' he explained.
'When I got going against Meza, I got through with some good shots and when I started hurting him he did not want to know.
'I can box and I can fight but I prefer to fight. If I have to box I am more than capable of doing that.'
