Arriving to fight flanked by a large mascot of yourself would suggest a degree of self-confidence.
But super-featherweight world title challenger Abraham Nova says he does it to relieve the pressure.
Nova told Sky Sports: “It takes a lot of pressure off. The mascot takes all the pictures. The mascot takes all the fans, everybody wants to be with the mascot. They don’t want to be with me.
“So it takes a big load of pressure away.”
With his mascot in tow, Nova will fight WBC world champion O’Shaquie Foster at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York, live on Sky Sports in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“O’Shaquie Foster, he’s a great fighter. He’s an elusive fighter. He has good footwork, and he has climbed the ranks and has beaten the fighters that he’s supposed to. He’s a great fighter, taking nothing away for him,” Nova said.
But he is determined to defeat him and win his first world title fight. “It would mean a lot to me. You know, my dreams will be coming true. It will be everything for me, my family, and my city,” Nova said.
“It will also show me that, which I believe regardless, but hard work really pays off, you know, so, all the years that I put into boxing since I was a kid is going to make these dreams come true when I become the WBC world champion.”
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Abraham Nova beat Adam Lopez in New York via unanimous decision after an entertaining fight
Nova has only lost once in his 24-bout professional career and that came down at featherweight against the excellent Robeisy Ramirez.
“I was a lot more dehydrated, a lot more frail,” he said of his efforts at 126lbs.
“I should have communicated and said these things, but I didn’t. Because I’m a fighter and I take a lot of pain. And I have a very high tolerance for pain. So when I’m not feeling well, I don’t like making excuses.”
He’s learned from that reverse. “You have to stay humble. You cannot fight with your emotions,” he said.
“You have to put your emotions to the side and you have to understand that if your body is not feeling well and you’re not nutritionally, right, you have to hire a nutritionist, you have to eat correctly.”
O’Shaquie Foster and Abraham Nova (right) face off ahead of their world title fight
He believes he will be a threat at super-featherweight.
He moved up after the loss to Ramirez and recorded two subsequent wins, dropping Adam Lopez twice en route to a 10-round decision win and knocking out Jonathan Romero.
“I knocked a lot of dudes out. I was a big puncher. What slowed me down was the coming down in weight to 126lbs. I depleted myself and wasn’t able to deliver those power shots and also received those power shots,” Nova said.
But now he warns: “I’ve always been a big puncher.”
He’ll be looking to demonstrate just that against the champion.
Watch Foster vs Nova live on Sky Sports Action from 1am on Saturday morning