It was not long ago few people had heard of Jeff Horn.
Now, he is the new darling of Australian sport.
The 29 year-old has become the World Boxing Organisation's world welterweight champion and, in his home town, he beat a legend to do it.
It was a controversial verdict, to be sure, but Horn survived 12 rounds with eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao to win a unanimous points decision at Lang Park in Brisbane.
Horn says the secret to his upset victory was keeping distance between himself and the Filipino legend in the ring.
"Controlling that gap, that distance, it really made it a lot easier to see his punches coming, and I could easily just step back and dodge a few of them, and then counter him with my own (punches). So, that aspect, which is just the size difference of both of us, was a big advantage."
Horn now has the boxing world at his feet, and there is already talk of a rematch with Pacquiao.
In the AFL, the story of the weekend was also about punching -- this one not so welcome, though.
The Sydney Swans beat Melbourne, 85-50, to continue their remarkable revival after a poor start to the season.
It is their fourth win in a row, but it was achieved with one player missing for most of the game.
That man was Callum Mills, and he was missing after being punched on the chin by Melbourne's Tomas Bugg behind play.
Bugg says he did not intend to hurt Mills, but Swans players called his conduct cowardly.
And Swans coach John Longmire, while careful in what he says, is not pleased either.
"The process will be, as it should be, I'd expect, through the AFL, and we'll wait and see what happens. We lost a player for 98 per cent of the game, which was disappointing."
Even worse for Bugg, the incident came after a week where thuggery, and punishing it, has been in the spotlight after an incident involving Richmond's Bachar Houli the previous weekend.
It was a big weekend in rugby union, and, because of it, next weekend will be even bigger.
The British and Irish Lions have levelled their series against the world champion New Zealanders at one win each.
Star New Zealand centre Sonny Bill Williams was sent off for a shoulder charge to Lions player Anthony Watson's head in the first half of the game.
It looked like the hosts would get away with it, but the Lions rallied in the second half, and an Owen Farrell kick with under three minutes to play gave them a 24-21 victory.
It sets up a third and deciding Test match between the teams next Saturday (july 8) in Auckland.
Lions coach Warren Gatland, himself a New Zealander, says criticism of the team has brought them together at the tour's crucial end.
"There's no doubt the last couple of weeks, in terms of the criticism and personal attacks, have been a little tough to take, not so much for myself, because that's part of sport, but for family members and things. But those who have been doing that, they would have no idea how that's galvanised us."
The Lions won their last series, in Australia four years ago, but have lost their last four series in New Zealand.
Given the infrequency of Lions tours, that means victory this Saturday would give them their first series win in the country since 1971.
And, with due respect to Australia's women's cricketers at the World Cup, the most important event in Australian cricket this past weekend happened at the Hilton hotel in Sydney.
That is where various Australian cricketers met after they were technically made unemployed the day before.
Fans are admittedly unlikely to see the likes of Steve Smith and David Warner at their local Centrelink office anytime soon.
But the lack of a pay deal between the Australian Cricketers' Association and Cricket Australia means men's and women's national-team commitments are under threat after the Women's World Cup.
It starts with the proposed tour of South Africa by a squad of players on the fringe of the men's national team, known as Australia A.
The man chosen as captain of that team, Usman Khawaja, says the players want to play cricket but Cricket Australia has to be flexible.
"I think the last few weeks and least few months have showed how committed the players are to the revenue-share model, and we are committed to strike a deal. We want to play cricket, we want to play cricket for our fans, we want to play cricket because we love the game, and we're flexible in working toward that. At the moment, there's hasn't been that from both sides."
Cricket Australia wants to scrap the revenue-sharing model that had governed players' salaries for the past 20 years.
At risk, if things cannot be sorted out, is not only the Australia A tour, but tours of Bangladesh and India by the men's senior team and even the home Ashes series against England this summer.
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