Ben "Wonder" Tackie, excited, confident, hungry and "waiting like a cat" plans to unleash his most defensive strategy yet in handling undisputed world 140-pound "super champion" Kostya Tszyu at the Mandalay Bay this Saturday.

Tackie and his team believe Tszyu "is like Mike Tyson. he thinks everybody is afraid of him. Well, we're not. We know he's a hard puncher but we're not worried about it at all."

These are fighting words from Tackie's manager, Michael Tetteh.

When MaxBoxing.com last caught up with Tackie during his final days of training camp in Los Angeles, he hadn't yet seen Tszyu's one loss to Vince Phillips.

Team Tackie has since had a chance to watch the tape, but admit it didn't teach them much, because, according to Tetteh, The Thunder From Downunder has learned so much from that fight.

"Tszyu's style works so well for us," said Tetteh, who frequently translates for his talented charge. Although Tackie speaks English, he is the first to admit he is not readily understandable.

"I can't understand a thing he says," said close friend, Ghana's junior middleweight Kofi Jantuah. "I read somewhere he also speaks French. I almost fell over. He can hardly handle English, I just tell him, ‘speak African."

"Tackie, who is 24-2 with 16 KOs, has completed a three month rigorous training camp which spanned Accra, Ghana, Los Angeles, California, Miami, Florida and finally Las Vegas, Nevada.

Under the watchful eyes of trainer Jesse Arrevalo, co-trainer and fight cutman Charles Tackie-Kommey and manager Michael Tetteh, he has devised his strategy and believes moving in the ring will frustrate the champion.

"We're going to fight Tszyu like Hopkins fought Trinidad," said Tetteh. "Tszyu hits very hard but he has lots of problems with guys who move. We saw that in his fight with Oktay Urkal.

"Ben is not going to give him any space. We'll keep the pressure on him and stay right in his face. That pressure and Ben's speed can handle Tszyu's power. Ben is African. Africans don't back down."

Tackie's family is in Las Vegas for the big night and he won't have to look far for his mascot, four year old daughter Mary who likes to sit ringside when her father fights.

"People talk about Tszyu's power but even Tszyu admits Ben has power too," said Tetteh. "He has a questionable chin, we saw that in the Phillips fight but we're not relying on the lucky punch.

"We're expecting Tszyu to land hard punches but everything we have done in training is designed to let Ben's body absorb the punches and give it back too.

"Tszyu was hurt by Diobelys Hurtado - twice and he didn't really look impressive against Sharmba Mitchell and Mitchell could hardly walk."

Speaking of Cuban welterweight Hurtado, he and veteran John John Molina, (who beat Tackie in a close decision last year) helped in the final weeks of training in Miami, Florida before Team Tackie headed back west to Las Vegas.

"These are very tough fighters and John John particularly was able to help Ben with his defensive moves," said Tetteh.

"Ben likes to hurt his opponent and get them out of there. This fight won't be any different."