The voice of Jeff Fenech was reverberating inside the head of Jeff Horn as his boxing fairytale came to a sombre end in Las Vegas.
Terence Crawford was too slick, quick and far too good for Horn, overwhelming him in a comprehensive ninth-round technical knockout win to claim the Australian's WBO welterweight championship.
Horn had a 12-point plan laid out for him by trainer Glenn Rushton but knowing what to do is one thing.
Executing it is another thing entirely, especially against a future hall-of-famer like Crawford, who now has world titles in three weight divisions.
"I just couldn't get in my rhythm," Horn told reporters on Saturday.
"I really wanted to press him forward.
"I was actually even thinking in my head, I'm like, I can just imagine what Jeff Fenech's saying right now, 'Stay on his chest, stay on his chest'."
Crawford kept a smart distance and used his superior reach to pick Horn off, leaving referee Robert Byrd with no choice but to call off the fight with 27 seconds to go in round nine as the American barrelled into him.
Byrd had asked Horn to "show me something" at the end of the eighth but the well was dry.
"I wish I fought better and followed the game plan a little bit better," Horn said.
"It just wasn't my night."
Horn was the villain from the start, copping boos from the 8112 in attendance at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
It was all designed by promoters Top Rank to be a coronation for Crawford, who has been earmarked as US boxing's next big superstar.
Crawford said nothing Horn brought to the table surprised him.
"We knew everything he was going to do in there ... (he has) one style and one style only," he said.
"Second, third round I knew I was the stronger guy ... I knew it was just a matter of time."
Battered, bruised and without his title belt, Horn might never reach the heights he once aspired to.
But he hopes he at least won over a few of his critics just by hanging in for as long as he did.
"I didn't fight my best either. I hope people could see that," Horn said.
"But I definitely feel like ... I did all right, anyway."
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