The ‘Fight of the Century' this Saturday night takes centre stage in my sporting diary this week. The much anticipated and hyped fight will finally settle who the best is; David Tua and Shane Cameron.

However, those that make the claim that it is the biggest fight in New Zealand history, have little knowledge of the sport. The largest crowd to be ringside at a professional bout in the country was at the middle stanza of a remarkable three fight series in 1930.

American featherweight Pete Sarron, who went on to win the World Featherweight Title when he defeated Freddie Miller in 1936, waged war against Waitara fireman Tommy Donovan in three bouts.

The first, on 15 March 1930 in New Plymouth, saw Sarron disqualified when easily in front and set up an immediate rematch in Wellington two weeks later. Over 17,000 punters packed the outdoor Kilbirnie Speedway to witness the rematch between the American and the Kiwi.

Fought over the (then) usual distance of 15 rounds, the pair fought like wild cats throughout and earned a standing ovation even before the decision was announced. As the saying goes ‘the crowd went wild' when Donovan was announced the winner.

The Otago Boxing Association brought the pair together a third time in July 1930, with Donovan also winning this contest. It was estimated that a total attendance of 32,000 had been on hand to witness the three epic contests.

While the three bout series took place nearly 80 years ago, Tua and Cameron share one similarity with Tommy Donovan; they all came from decorated amateur backgrounds. Donovan won the amateur featherweight crown in 1927.

Both the combatants in next Saturday's main event have their names engraved on the Dewar Shield, which is awarded to the winner of the New Zealand heavyweight title. While in different eras, both men dominated their weight division before turning to the pro ranks.

As a 16 year old David won the first of his three successive amateur titles in 1989. While Shane won a solitary title in 2001. A quick sequence of events followed that showed his potential. In what is often described as one of the best ever heavyweight finals, Cameron went to war with Adam Forsyth winning a titanic contest. A few weeks after finishing second to Shane, Forsyth returned across the Tasman to win the Australian Heavyweight Championship.

An Olympic bronze medal was the final amateur accolade for Tua, with a Commonwealth bronze being won by Cameron, before turning to the punch for pay ranks.

To the ‘big question' now: who will have their hand raised in triumph on Saturday night? The pair clearly bring different styles to the fight, with Tua the KO specialist and Cameron winning a lot of his contests by decision.

David is certain to base his game plan around getting in position to deliver the knockout punch. Shane can put the fight in the hands of the judges if he uses his best asset, which is his reach advantage – he needs to stay away from Tua and jab, jab, jab all night.

Putting my neck on the line - I am going for a Tua KO in the later rounds.