While the eyes of the boxing world were focused on Las Vegas last weekend for Ricky Hatton's war with Jose Luis Castillo, one of boxing's oldest soldiers was himself preparing for yet another battle over in Atlantic City.
Ray Mercer, the former US Army sergeant, Olympic gold medallist and WBO heavyweight champion of the world was involved in a pay-per-view event of his own, but this time the territory was altogether unfamiliar.
For Mercer was making his MMA debut at the age of 46 against street-fighting legend Kevin Ferguson.
Slice has no real connection with the boxing industry (other than being the cousin of the game's most skilful journeyman Emmanuel Augustus) and has made his name through a series of illegal street brawls which have found their way onto the Internet.
These so called fights, against opponents such as 'Afro Puff', 'The Bouncer' and 'Big Mac', are about as far removed from the noble art as you can possibly get but he's become something of a cult figure in America and for this reason he was pitted against Mercer at the Boardwalk Hall in a bout sanctioned by the Cage Fury Fighting Championship.
For the record, Mercer lost the fight in 72 seconds after being felled by Slice who then administered what is known as a guillotine choke hold (a move I'm guessing the late Marquis of Queensbury was not familiar with).
It was all most undignified and sad to see the now bald, faded former champ (who picked up $50,000 for his efforts) bludgeoned to defeat so quickly.
In his heyday 'Merciless' Mecer was known for his durability and awesome power.
Indeed there was a bitter irony to the fight being staged in Atlantic City, the venue where Mercer recorded perhaps the most famous win of a pro career that spanned three decades.
For it was here in 1991 that the Florida native scored one of the most chilling knockout wins in heavyweight history when he scrambled the senses of a young (and to that point unbeaten) Tommy Morrison in the fifth round of a wild affair for the WBO crown.
It was a fight that ruined Morrison and made Mercer.
After that victory he seemingly had the world at his feet. He was a former Olympic gold medallist, now unbeaten in 18 fights and a world champion.
But he would lose his next fight though to Larry Holmes and despite operating in the upper echelons of the heavyweight division for the next decade he would also fall just short against men such as Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfideld and Wladimir Klitschko.
Of the aforementioned trio only Klitschko would stop him (the fight was waved off with a 38-year-old Mercer still on his feet but not firing back) and he gave Lewis a fearsome argument at Madison Square Garden in 1996; indeed many pundits actually had him winning though he lost by a majority verdict.
His last actual boxing fight was in 2005 when he was defeated by Shannon Briggs and so it was not entirely unpredictable, given such inactivity, that he would lose to Slice - a crude but impressively sculpted fellow who once worked as a bodyguard to a pornographic movie producer
It was still galling,though, watching the once formidable Mercer reduced to a bit part player in MMA, an activity Senator John McCain once dubbed "human cock fighting".
Given Mercer's military background, though, I'm sure he'll cope but I sincerely hope he now lays down his arms for good so he can be remembered as the man who struck Gold in Seoul and shattered the Tommy Morrison myth.
Rather that an old solider who simply couldn't leave the field of battle.
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