Saturday Night And Sunday Morning is the title of a classic novel by Alan Sillitoe, adapted into a 1960s cult film starring Albert Finney, which tells the story of a young factory worker who indulges in a tawdry affair with a married woman after he drank with his friends every week. only to wake up the next day with a hangover and longing for a normal life with a beautiful but seemingly unattainable young girl.
A version of this seedy experience awaits Conor Benn and British boxing this weekend.
Benn Junior will undoubtedly beat Mexican fall man Rodolfo Orozco in a flashy Florida hotel under cover of a boxing license of American convenience this Saturday evening.
Then see dawn on Sunday wishing he had been involved earlier in the evening in the kind of fight from which the winner of Joe Joyce and Zhilei Zhang at Wembley Arena will emerge as a contender for the world heavyweight title.
Admittedly, young Conor needs a rest shaker after 18 months of heel-dragging following two test results with harmful drugs that have resulted in the convoluted denials and nitpicking legal challenges surrounding the suspension of his British boxing license.
Conor Benn will return to the ring this weekend following two adverse drug test findings last October
He will face Rodolfo Orozco in Florida, not the favored venue for his eventual comeback
Joe Joyce (right) will then take on Zhilei Zhang (left) in a rematch from earlier this year
Although he would certainly have preferred to make his comeback in full view of the British public rather than under the flickering neon lights of the Caribe Royale resort and conference center on the outskirts of the Disney World city of Orlando.
As Mickey Mouse events go, this one is right up there.
Joyce, on the other hand, is fighting for his boxing life in a thoroughbred encounter that is rigorously sanctioned by the British Boxing Board of Control. Should he lose this rematch to the Chinese stunner who beat him into an eye-popping submission earlier this year, it will be difficult for any of us to see where our Olympic silver medalist goes from here at the age of 38.
Zhang is 40. So whoever gets the upper hand in this old-fashioned slugfest will want Tyson Fury and Olexsandr Usyk to get to work deciding which of them will become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis. Specifically determine which of them will have to meet a mandatory challenge for the WBO title, of which Zhang is the interim holder.
Benn, as he reappears on an undercard ten-rounder, fights for little more than the money and to prove he can fight under the jurisdiction of any state willing to let him.
He and promoter Eddie Hearn foresee Benn moving to beat Chris Eubank Jr. to meet in a generational fight in the name of their fathers, which was called off after his two disputed doping failures.
Benn was banned from fighting Eubank (left), but he hopes the fight can eventually happen
Joyce, meanwhile, is looking for revenge after a shock sixth-round defeat in April
If that does indeed happen, as suggested in December, it may have to take place in another foreign territory. Possibly Dubai for more loot.
As for Joe and Zhilie, while neither is good at dodging punches, they both have the mixed blessing of granite enough to survive the punishment of a full 12-round championship war.
If it comes to that, Joyce is likely to overcome the bookmakers’ odds against him. And both will have earned their money twice over.
Joyce versus Zhang that will be broadcast live on TNT Sports on Saturday evening, followed in the early hours by Benn v Orozco on DAZN.