Doran enjoys the idea of grooming fighters -- of molding them like a piece of clay, as he says -- and knew when he met Singh that he was a highly skilled boxer, willing to learn; a big man who didn't just slug away but used his mind in the ring.

"It's the hardest sport in the world," says Doran. "There's nothing else like it. There's a lot of rough sports, but boxing taxes everything. You can't call timeouts and if someone's whaling on you, you either fight back or you're defeated. A marathon runner couldn't last a round, even if he wasn't getting hit. You have to have the endurance of a marathon runner and the coolness of a gunslinger."

It is time to leave for the fight.

Also see: First Citizens in the Corridors of Power