Rendall Munroe‘s opponent for Friday nights fight, Victor Terrazas, arrived in Coventry last night following a “nightmare” three-day journey, due to the grounding of aircrafts, because of the Icelandic volcano.

While Leicester’s fighting dustman was putting the finishing touches to his six-week preparation training programme, Mexican Terrazas was at the centre of a logistical ravel nightmare.

In a journey to rival Steve Martin’s in the film, Planes, Trains and Automobiles Terrazas started his journey of nearly 300 miles from Guadalajara to Mexico City on Saturday to catch a flight to Gatwick. That was cancelled because of the Iceland volcanic ash crisis, forcing Munroe’s promoter, Frank Maloney, to take drastic action.

With the help of TD Travel of Hull, Maloney engineered a plan of action to save his big fight, which ended last night with Terrazas finally arriving at the Village Hotel, Coventry.

As reported on www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk Chris Veal, TD Travel manager, said: “A nightmare is the only way I can describe the journey. Travelling takes it out of you anyway and a world title eliminator 72 hours later is going to take some doing.

“It’s a big upheaval, particularly being in a car for such a long time on such a long journey.”

Les Allen junior, the Leicester boxing manager, is assisting Maloney and was in Coventry to greet Terrazas last night. He, too, believes the Mexican’s task has been made even tougher.

Planes trains & automobiles car rental video clip from the Film, Terrazas also has had a nightmare journey!

“I think this tips the scales in Rendall’s favour,” he said. “I can’t imagine Terrazas would feel great after such a journey and then have to fight on Friday night. It is not doing him any favours, but then Mexicans are a tough breed and he might shrug off any tiredness. Terrazas has been stopped only once and that was in his first fight as a kid. If he wants to beat Rendall then he will have to do it early because I think he will run out of steam.

“Rendall will box his ears off, he is fast and difficult to catch. I think he will win comfortably on points.”

Terrazas’s nightmare trek began on Saturday when he travelled from his base in Guadalajara to Mexico City. The idea was to fly from there to Gatwick, arriving early Sunday morning. The volcanic ash crisis forced a cancellation, and Maloney and TD Travel moved into overdrive.

They rebooked the Terrazas party of three on an 11-hour flight to Madrid. They arrived in the Spanish capital on Monday morning.

Terrazas insisted on a 90-minute training session before a 14-hour trip by limo to Paris. He stayed overnight before continuing his journey in one of Maloney’s vehicles.

By lunchtime yesterday, he was negotiating the Channel Tunnel on Eurostar, before another four hours on the road to Coventry. On arrival at the Village Hotel, he was scheduled for a work-out, massage and sauna before bed. Today, he was coming face to face with Munroe in a pre-fight press.

Maloney was delighted his man had made it. Having sold more than 2,000 tickets, the fact the fight was now definitely on was further good news.

“I think there may have been a few people waiting to see if the Mexican would make it,” said Maloney. “He’s here now and I’m sure there is going to be a big push for tickets over the next 48 hours.”