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Noel Thornberry welcomed David Nyika into his Gatton stable almost three years ago and has ensured he'd be ready when the inevitable title shot arrived.

Everything was in order ahead of David Nyika's Friday night sell-out at the Gatton Shire Hall until Noel Thornberry called the caterer.

Alarm bells rang when there was an awkward silence at the other end of the line.

The chef eventually admitted to Nyika's trainer, manager and promoter that he thought the fight was on Saturday.

Thornberry has seen it all in a lifetime around boxing, so there was no panic.

Hours later the beef cheeks were served tender, like Waikato Falefehi's ribs after Nyika had finished him inside two rounds to move to 7-0.

If all goes to plan for Nyika on Wednesday, the 600 who gathered in Gatton last July can say they were there that night watching a future world champion.

The 29-year-old, now 10-0, will fight IBF and The Ring cruiserweight strap holder Jai Opetaia (26-0) on the Gold Coast.

Injury to mandatory challenger Huseyin Cinkara opened the door for Nyika to take the fight on three weeks' notice and bring to life a salivating trans-Tasman title fight between two familiar foes.

But Thornberry has been anticipating the moment ever since he took charge of the Tokyo Games bronze medallist, two-time Commonwealth Games champion and New Zealand's Olympic flag bearer three years ago.

"Here we were struggling to get an opponent to fight on the card at all, now we are in the main event in the other corner," Thornberry told AAP.

"Opportunity sometimes doesn't knock twice, but somebody like David will always create opportunities and he seizes on them.

"Over the years we've missed a lot of opportunities with guys not keeping themselves in the shape they should be. 

"Dave's not that guy. He's always ready to go and is the most professional athlete I've had anything to do with."

Nyika chose to move to Gatton to train with Thornberry.

He will now be the fourth boxer out of Thornberry's humble backyard boxing gym to fight for a world title, heavyweight Alex Leapai's clash with Wladimir Klitschko 11 years ago the most notable.

Since then Thornberry has got creative to keep Nyika active, his Gatton headliner and all of its moving parts just another night at the office.

"I'm used to being in a state of chaos, doing everything," he laughed.

"When I was younger I trained, managed and promoted myself. 

"I was the promoter on the night, plus fighting the main event, so this is a cakewalk for me."

Nyika has embraced his quiet Gatton existence, mowing lawns and building chicken coops in his backyard.

Locals are now familiar with the chiselled torso regularly spotted pounding the pavement of the regional Queensland town.

"It's really lucky we found each other; he's never really had anybody that just focused on him, as good as he was," Thornberry said.

"He's very bright, has opinions and I always listen. If he was a prima donna I wouldn't be interested."

They would have liked at least eight weeks to prepare for the man regarded as the best cruiserweight since Oleksandr Usyk, but Thornberry is still quietly confident.

"I rang Dave at 8.30 on the Saturday morning and told him we'd been offered the fight," he said. 

"He said to me, 'Noel, I'm hot right now, let's take it'.

"Just one sentence, not an ounce of hesitation in his voice.

"He's been on the world stage since he was 18 (winning Commonwealth gold).

"He fought on the first Usyk-Fury undercard.

"That's why I don't think that this is as daunting a proposition as some may think.

"He's been on the big stage and he's revelled in it."