WHEN the well-wishers and wannabes have left to take their seats, and the referee is the only man standing between him and opponent Steve Wills, Chad Bennett will hear one voice before the bell calls him to the middle of the ring at Sydney's Acer Arena tomorrow night.
Trainer Arty Armstrong, who has been in Bennett's ear throughout his 30-fight professional career, will be the one man who matters when Bennett, 36, squares off with Wills for the vacant International Boxing Organisation Asia-Pacific junior welterweight belt.
The 12-round title fight is the main preliminary to the much-hyped IBO cruiserweight bout between Danny Green and Roy Jones jnr.
Bennett, better known as "Hollywood", knows a win could be his ticket to the big-time.
"The big thing Chad has is the love, support and knowledge of Artie Armstrong in his corner," Bennett's manager Richard Claut said.
"Arty has been with Chad from the beginning and he'll be the one there long after the bright lights and what they attract are gone.
"Artie is such a champion guy and come fight night, he is the only man Chad really needs to listen to.
"Most people around the fighter at this time before the fight are talking up their own importance and that includes managers but that's rubbish. The truth for me is the fighter and trainer are number one and number two.
"The manager and the entourage, they're all spectators. We do our job, we line up the opportunity, but for me, it would be nice to see credit given to the fighter and his trainer."
Unbeaten Wills, the World Boxing Organisation Asia-Pacific junior welterweight champion, has a WBO world ranking of 14 but Bennett said he would take that if he wins tomorrow.
Armstrong, who was at the Australian amateur championships last week when Claut negotiated the fight with the 25-year-old Central Coast southpaw, is as excited as his prote{aac}ge{aac}.
"It came out of the blue to me too because I was away in Geelong when I found out about it, but his weight's going good and his body's looking the best it's looked," Armstrong said.
"Pity he hadn't got serious and done this 10 years ago, but he's got the right attitude. It's not a fight that he can't win, and there's a lot on the line for him.
"I saw Jeff Fenech quoted in the paper the other day about blokes going a little bit longer these days with all the sports supplements and training methods they've got, and there's more older blokes fighting than younger blokes these days.
"This is the opportunity Chad has been waiting for, and he's not running around trying to promote it himself and run the whole show. He's only got to think about boxing this time."
Claut said Bennett proved his credentials with a unanimous points victory over former IBO world lightweight champion Aldo Rios 10 days ago.
"Chad just needs to concentrate on fighting his fight, because he has all the key ingredients to win the most important fight of his career," he said.
"He outpointed Aldo Rios in every round over 10 rounds less than two weeks ago, and Rios is a seasoned fighter with 50 fights for 46 wins, and he went nine rounds with Ricky Hatton.
"Chad has taken no shortcuts in his preparation.
"He now realises the importance of the little things, and the scale of their significance to success."
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