Time hasn't lessened the ill feeling as Australia's world super middleweight champion Sakio Bika prepares to fight Anthony "The Dog" Dirrell in California this weekend.
American Dirrell doesn't have much time for Bika.
"I shouldn't even be here," Dirrell told AAP on Wednesday at a pre-fight media session.
The feeling is mutual.
Bika and Dirrell fought a controversial draw in New York last December, with both boxers furious they were not awarded the win.
Dirrell knocked Bika down in the fifth, but he got back up and at the end of 12 rounds one judge scored the fight 114-112 to the Australian, another gave it to the American 116-110 while the third judge had a 113-113 draw.
Bika, who kept his WBC belt, said he would rather be fighting Englishman Carl Froch, owner of the IBF and WBA belts.
"I want to unify the division," Bika said.
The boxers, who will fight at the StubHub Center in Carson, south of Los Angeles, on Saturday worked out for the media at the Fabela Chavez Boxing Center on Wednesday.
"He knows I won the fight or he wouldn't be taking this re-match," Dirrell, from Flint, Michigan, said.
"I'll just have to beat him a second time and take the championship."
The draw is the only blemish on 29-year-old Dirrell's 26 win (22 knockout) professional record.
Bika has a 32 win (21 KO), five loss, three draw pro record.
The 35-year-old fought at the Sydney Olympics for his native Cameroon, but loved the harbour city so much he stayed, met wife Belinda and now has three children.
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