Rendall Munroe tells skysports.com that his fans' hi-vis vests will not be the only thing shining on Friday night.
Business as usual as the Boxing Binman closes in on the limelight
Rendall Munroe is ready to show the world what he's about - and he won't just be donning a high-visibility vest to do it.
The boxing bin man from Leicester faces the biggest fight of his remarkable career on Friday night when he takes on unknown Mexican Victor Terrazas in Coventry, live on
Sky Sports.
The fight is an eliminator for the WBC super-bantamweight title held by Japan's Toshiaki Nishioka and will be fought in front of a sell-out Skydome crowd, full of fans that would light up even the dingiest of venues.
Munroe's legion of supporters will once again be wearing the same luminous yellow jackets he does when he is on the day job, clearing the dustbins and refuse in Leicester.
Promotoer Frank Maloney - who has had to shell out to make sure the Mexican beats the volcanic ash to get here - will even be sporting one, too.
The idea came from one of his colleagues and has caught on to such an extent that it might yet replace Maloney's Union Jack suit he wore when Lennox Lewis was conquering the world.
Quite what Terrazas, who has never boxed out of his homeland, will make of the bright yellow army is hard to imagine. But Munroe is determined that with the big time beckoning, it will not just be his flourescent fans that catch the eye.
Tremendous support
"When Terrazas walks out and sees all those high-visibiliy jackets, he won't know what's hit him!" Munroe told
skysports.com.
"I get tremendous support. The tickets have flown out for this fight - I've got four double deckers full of people coming down for this, so the people are ready to show the working-class hero, Rendall Munroe the Boxing Bin Man is here to stay!
"In my last couple of fights I have shown everyone I am tough super-bantamweight, so maybe now it's time to show them I am very sharp and flashy super-bantamweight."
Munroe though, will not be getting carried away. Even six weeks off work from understanding employers have not changed him or his approach; he is still up early, still going for two runs a day, still doing an hour's spin class and still driving the 40-minute trip from Leicester to training in Alfreton and back again.
Terrazas has had to fly from Mexico to Madrid then be driven via an overnight stop in Paris to Coventry, thanks to the eruption at Eyjafjallajoekull, but it is doubftul he has covered as many miles for this as the man waiting for him in the opposite corner.
It's not broke, so Munroe and management team of Mike and Jason Shinfield aren't fixing the training regime. But it is being tweaked; just as he the stakes are getting higher, so too is the level of his preparation.
"I went and did a little fitness workout with Leicester City last Thursday, did a public workout the day before and have done loads of sparring," he explained. "I've had a guy from Russia sparring, Ashley Sexton, Carl Johanneson, Joe Murray, so everything's been cool.
"Sparring's been a little bit different because of the quality of the guys I've been facing, but it's just normal business. Every time you go up a level you have to get better sparring in and you have to be ready - and obviously Jason and Mike have done a great job."
Munroe hasn't done too badly when he's been left on his own in the ring, making a rise through the super-bantamweight division that has been as eye-catching as the clobber that will be on show come Friday.
Four-and-a-half years ago his ranking was so lowly, the 29-year-old can only describe it as "400 and something". Now he is ahead of the likes of Rafael Marquez, Ricardo Cordoba and Jason Booth in the WBC standings.
A six-fight streak book-ended by wins over former European champion Kiko Martinez between March 2007 and February 2009 had a lot to do with it. This will be only his third fight since then, but with the world title within reach, it's quality not quantity that matters.
"It doesn't bother me," he said over the phone in a rare break from training last Friday.
"The team I have are doing a great job and if they say I've got to fight more, I've got fight more and if they say I've got to fight less, I've got to fight less.
"They're stepping me up the ladder the right way and obviously we're doing the right things. I'm feeling good. Everything's gone perfectly and I'm at the weight already, so now it's all about charging up the batteries and staying sharp."
Humble
Munroe's focus has been just that. He admits to not being one for watching "too many tapes" and knows little about Terrazas, and the prospect of a world-title fight is not going to take his attention away from the task in hand.
"I don't know too much about him," he said. "I just listen to Jason and do what he tells me to do. Everyone keeps telling me Terrazas is an out-and-out Mexican who likes to come and have a fight, but that doesn't really bother me. I'm going out there with the intention to win and that's it.
"I never look past any fighter to be honest. I'm a humble guy and I just enjoy the moment and take every step as it comes. I keep telling everyone that every fight is a world title fight for me. I put everything into every fight."
It is hardly what you'd have heard from a man who took the sport up as a hobby, and needed sparring sessions with the Booth brothers, Jason and Nicky, to find out his fists were made for fighting. And it certainly isn't something you or I are likely to hear from the man emptying our bins of a morning.
But Munroe, his dedication and his loyal following aren't what Terrazas will be expecting either; when he walks into the Skydome arena, he will be faced with an eruption of a different kind.
And although he will see this one coming in all its luminous glory, hear it and then certainly feel it, it won't be any easier to avoid.
