Michael Grant and Tye Fields both saw in the new millennium harbouring dreams as big as their heavyweight frames - at 6ft 7in and 6ft 9in respectively they were two of the tallest fighters in the business.
On March 29, 2000, Grant's status as a legitimate heavyweight contender was blown apart by Lennox Lewis at Madison Square Garden, Grant staying upright for less than six minutes before crumbling to his first career defeat.
The previous night, in the Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut, Fields had continued to bolster his own heavyweight credentials with a first-round win over Kevin Rosier, his 11th straight first-round win since turning pro.
Things would not turn out the way either fighter wanted, but they continued to fight on and this Saturday night at Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip, the two giants collide in a last-ditch bid for belated glory.
With early career statistics such as those belonging to Fields, it was small wonder he was quickly held up as a possible future heavyweight prospect and treated accordingly, fed has-beens and patsies to pad out his record.
Fields was a former college basketball star who failed to carve out a professional career in Europe and returned to give boxing a try. He was the all-American kid and the archetypal Great White Hope all rolled into one.
After 17 straight early wins, Fields was exposed when he was knocked out in the first round himself by a fighter called Jeff Ford in West Virginia. Fields would avenge the loss seven months later, but the damage to his credibility was done.
Grant, meanwhile, slid out of contention, beaten in the first round by Jameel McCline and then, two years later, stopped in seven by rising star Dominick Guinn in a bout regarded as Grant's last shot at earning another title chance.
That both Grant and Fields are still around and apparently able to command decent pay-per-view numbers says as much about their staying power as it does about the feeble state of the heavyweight division today.
Grant, who lost creditably on points to Tomasz Adamek in his last fight in August, and Fields, with four wins on the bounce after a first-round loss to Monte Barrett in 2008, both seem to believe a shot is still out there.
"It's a difficult time right now for American heavyweights," Grant said. "The landscape is harsh. But I continue to pursue my ultimate goal of fighting for the heavyweight title again."
Fields, nicknamed 'Big Sky' as he is from Montana, says a recent family move to Canada has reignited his career.
"I couldn't have planned it this well," Fields said. "I'm going to apply smart pressure on him."
Fields' manager Billy Baxter does not sound quite so convinced. Baxter accepts it is time Fields' credentials are tested against only the second genuine opponent he has ever faced - the other was Barrett.
"He's at the age where we have to find out one way or another, so we're ready to step up again," Baxter said of the 36-year-old Fields, who beat Raymond Olubowale by third-round stoppage last month. "I think he's ready."
Grant, now 38, believes a win will improve his ranking to the extent that the champions will not continue to shrug him off as a relic of a previous heavyweight age.
But his chances of a late career revival are slim.
In a week in which David Haye finally appeared to have agreed terms to fight Wladimir Klitschko, the division did indeed seem to have moved on with little thought for the two thirty-somethings on show at Planet Hollywood.
It is a fight for hardcore fans only. As Grant and Fields both seem to accept, there will be nowhere to turn for the loser.
The problem is however big his dreams, the winner is also likely to have little to show for his efforts.
