With just a few hours to go before he climbs into the ring, ready to confront the latest person bent on his physical annihilation, Gurcharan Singh sits in a cold puddle.

Singh, one of India's finest boxers, reluctant army deserter, is wet and in pain.

This was apparent from the first moment we met, when he hobbled up to me on the driveway outside his Atlantic City home and extended his hand in silence. Contusions, a busted lip or a cauliflower ear I had expected. Perhaps a certain sluggishness of demeanor. But not this.

He has pulled his back, affecting the sciatic nerve that runs down the leg. It happened while he was sparring, a week before the fight. He ducked to avoid a punch, and realised the hard way that his lower back muscles were not as well conditioned as they should have been. He spent three days in bed, hoping the pain would evaporate, but at one point he seriously considered calling off the fight. Why he ultimately did not -- why he decided to risk his health and his perfect 16-0 record against his most challenging opponent yet -- is something of a mystery.

But ask the 27-year-old, 200-pound Guru if he is worried, and he just shrugs it off.

"No problem," he says, shifting in his puddle. Earlier, he had suggested he might finish tonight's bout in four rounds.

The question is whether he really believes this, or is subsisting on his own hype.

Also see: End of an East-West Fairy Tale