Boxing loves a loud promise, yet history has a way of reminding us that conviction is found in punches, not pressers. Over the years, a few headline-makers entered fight week confident they could will the night with their swagger before discovering the canvas has its own scorecard.

In May 2015, James Kirkland boasted he would crowd Canelo Álvarez so closely the Mexican star would "smell my breath." Thirty seconds in, the Texan had his wish - but it was the smell of danger. Canelo's crisp counters had Kirkland on the canvas twice by the end of the second round, while a right hand that sealed the fight came in the third round and left the "Mandingo Warrior" seeking the ceiling lights.

When cocky fighters get silenced: Watch

Two years earlier, middleweight division boogeyman Gennadiy "Triple G" Golovkin endured a week of ridicule from Brooklyn puncher Curtis Stevens, who unapologetically called Golovkin a hype job. Golovkin's reply manifested in the very first round; a left hook dropped Stevens and set the tone for another six rounds of two-fisted hell. By the eighth round, Stevens' corner had seen enough, waving off their battered talker while the Kazakh remained silent and unbeaten.

Trash-talk was also taken for a ride by iron legends. In 1986, street cowed heavyweight Mitch Green called Mike Tyson every name he could think of except champion, promising he would expose the then 19-year-old prodigy. Ten pace quickening and relentless rounds later, Green had lost every round, and all of his bravado. Their rivalry then spilled over two years later into a Harlem clothing store, where a single Tyson hook splintered Green's eye socket and the myth that "Blood" Green could be saved from "Kid Dynamite" was shattered.

Finally, in November 2021, unbeaten unified lightweight king Teofimo Lopez predicted a first-round demolition of mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. Instead, Lopez was dropped in that round and subsequently chased a man over those remaining eleven rounds that refused to be intimidated. The scorecards were read, and Kambosos was crowned the new king, proving that hunger spoken softly can devour confidence yelled loudly.

Four fights, four very different stages, one lesson that doesn't get old: when the bell rings, the volume diminishes, and only execution is heard.

Image Credit: ESPN