If you didn't believe it then, you probably will now.
Unbeaten WBC heavyweight kingpin Deontay Wilder certified an initial defeat of the man from whom he won the belt nearly three years ago, stopping ex-claimant Bermane Stiverne in a single round of a contentiously promoted rematch at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The two men first met in January 2015 in Las Vegas, where Wilder was forced to go the distance for the only time in a pro career that began after he won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Wilder suggested during the run-up to the second fight that he had no intention of going 12 rounds again, and he made the point clear with a jab/straight right combination that dropped Stiverne to the floor just after the 2-minute mark of the round.
Stiverne rose, but was floored again almost immediately with a right-left-right combination, and the fight ended soon after following a brutal four-punch flurry along the ropes as referee Arthur Mercante intervened -- including a left hand that appeared to at least briefly take Stiverne's consciousness as he sagged to his knees.
The official end came at 2:59 of the first round.
And the decisiveness of the result had Wilder hungry for more.
"I just want to prove that I am the best. I know I'm the best and I just want to prove it," he said. "Don't you all want to see one champion? He goes by the name Deontay Wilder."
The victory indeed marked Wilder's sixth defense of the WBC title, but his reign has been pockmarked by injuries and a series of fights that have fallen through when three prospective opponents were flagged for banned substances. In fact, the Stiverne rematch was quickly assembled only after the most recent of those would-be foes, Luis Ortiz, tested positive in late September.
In the meantime, British heavyweight Anthony Joshua has won the division's IBF, IBO and WBA title belts and become the logical counterpart for Wilder in a hugely-anticipated unification fight.
At 6-foot-7 with the wingspan of a pterodactyl, Wilder has become the knockout poster boy of the big-boy division with 38 stoppages in 39 fights after Saturday.
Meanwhile, Joshua is no slouch at 6-foot-6, and none of his 20 opponents since the 2012 Games -- including longtime champ Wladimir Klitschko, whom he TKO'd in April -- have heard the final bell.
The Independent World Boxing Rankings, which include all fighters in a weight class regardless of the belts they hold, have Joshua first at heavyweight and Wilder third. Ring Magazine, which lists Tyson Fury as its champion, has Joshua in the No. 1 contender's position and Wilder at No. 2.
Of course, fans in their 50s will hear the phrase "big heavyweight fight" and instantly recall 1970s images of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Those a decade younger might ponder early-1990s matches involving Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe.
And those who claim membership in the millennial generation can look back on a wild night in Memphis when the fading legend of Mike Tyson intersected with the ascending one of Lennox Lewis.
But what all might agree on is there's not been much to move the interest needle since.
While the Ukrainian-reared Klitschko brothers were marvels of modern-day physicality, neither Vitali nor Wladimir ever engaged the sort of foe who'd guarantee the meeting would transcend time.
And when it comes to the space-filling likes of Nikolay Valuev, Samuel Peter and Sultan Ibragimov, don't even bother.
Still, after a decade of robotic dominance and alphabet mediocrity, there may finally be room for hope.
Not only are two young, strong, unbeaten heavyweights capable of drawing a crowd and generating an ovation alone, but they seem at least mildly interested in getting together at some point, too.
"I've been waiting on that fight for a long time," Wilder said. "I declare war on you, AJ. I've been waiting for a long time. Is you up for this? Ain't no heavyweight can compare to me. I move like a middleweight. The things I can do in the ring are just crazy. I'm very confident in the things I can do. I just proved that."
Joshua defended his titles with a 10th-round TKO of Carlos Takam before more than 70,000 fans in Wales last week, and said afterward that he wanted a Wilder fight, possibly in the United Kingdom.
"Kings don't chase peasants. Kings chase kings," Wilder said. "I want Joshua. The world wants Joshua. No more ducking. No more dodging. No more excuses. I will go anywhere in the world.
"Make the date, don't wait."
On the Showtime-televised undercard, former welterweight champ Shawn Porter moved into position for another title chance by winning a grinding, but perhaps costly unanimous decision over rugged contender Adrian Granados.
Porter (28-2-1), who held the IBF belt at 147 pounds in 2013-14 and defended once, pressed the action for the majority of the 12 rounds and did his best work while pressing Granados – who's fought the majority of his career at 140 – against the ropes.
Neither man was ever down or in serious trouble, and Porter landed 209 punches to Granados' 166.
All three judges gave the nod to Porter by a 117-111 margin, or nine rounds to three. The judges agreed on 10 of the 12 rounds, and the only ones Granados won across the board were the 11th and 12th.
CBS Sports agreed with the scoring and also gave the winner a 117-111 score.
"(Granados) did good. My hat goes off to him," Porter said. "We came in here to knock him out. I hit him with some stuff and thought he'd go down, but he's a tough kid."
The 30-year-old said he hurt his left hand in the sixth round, and said "by the 10th, if I hit him I felt a sharp pain. My dad's pretty sure we broke it."
Such an injury could impact Porter's future prospects. The win made him the mandatory challenger to WBC champion Keith Thurman – against whom he lost a narrow decision last year.
"We're going to rest up and make that Keith Thurman rematch," Porter said. "I've never been injured. I'm just going to rest it and see what we can do."
It was the sixth career decision loss for Granados (18-6-2), who'd already lost five times by either majority or split verdicts.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Chicago native disagreed with the scoring this time, too.
"I controlled the whole fight. When I boxed, I caught him," he said. "They like handing me close decision Ls like cookies. Every time. I rocked him with my fists, not my head and elbows. I've got to get KOs every time. They're going to keep giving me the B side and the low side.
"It was a good fight, but we all know I won."
Unbeaten Kazakhstan native Sergey Lipinets became a world title claimant in just his 13th professional fight, defeating Japanese grinder Akihiro Kondo by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder for the IBF 140-pound championship vacated earlier this year by Terence Crawford.
Lipinets (13-0) took the verdict by official scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 111-111.
CBS Sports agreed with the masses by a slightly lesser margin, giving Lipinets a 116-112 nod.
The winner controlled the early rounds with superior hand speed and footwork while landing the flashier shots. He was cut high on the forehead after an accidental clash of heads in the sixth round, which seemed to incite a rally from Kondo (29-7-1) before Lipinets regained control down the stretch.
Lipinets, who was the IBF's No. 1 contender, landed 173 punches to Kondo's 140.
Elsewhere on the undercard, heavyweight Dominic Breazeale (19-1) won a crossroads bout of recent failed title challengers, stopping Eric Molina (26-5) in eight rounds. Breazeale was TKO'd in seven rounds by Joshua in June 2016, while Molina was beaten inside the distance against both Wilder (KO 9) and Joshua (TKO 3) within 18 months in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
The win made Breazeale the WBC's mandatory challenger for Wilder.
Other winners included Jamaican heavyweight Lenroy Thomas (UD 8 Ed Fountain), Brooklyn featherweight Chris Colbert (UD 8 Titus Williams), Nigerian heavyweight Efe Ajagba (TKO 4 Rodney Hernandez), 19-year-old junior bantamweight Dylan Price (TKO 1 Trevir Ballinger) and female junior featherweight Amanda Serrano (TKO 1 Marilyn Hernandez).
