By Thomas Gerbasi

Depending on where you reside in the world, there are certain tells that let a fighter known that he’s on the right track in his career. For New York junior welterweight Anthony Karperis, recognition comes in discussions had over a slice and a soda.

“When I fought my last fight against Alan Gotay, friends were coming up to me and saying, ‘These two guys at the pizzeria were talking about your fight coming up,’” he chuckles. “And they don’t even know who I am. They may know me from seeing me fight at The Paramount, but it’s not like I know them. It’s nice to be a part of that.”

When you’re a New Yorker and you’ve made the pizzeria, that’s not something to be scoffed at, and as Karperis approaches his 14th appearance at The Paramount and first headlining gig at the Huntington venue this Saturday, it’s clear that the exciting 28-year-old is starting to make the right kind of noise, and in a part of the Tri-State area that has been producing the likes of Chris Algieri, Joe Smith and Seanie Monaghan over the last few years, “Showtime” wouldn’t mind joining that company.

“My goal is definitely to reach the next level like guys like Chris Algieri and Joe Smith,” he said. “I want to get that opportunity. Obviously, I’m still a little early in my career where I’m not going to be granted with those opportunities right away. I’ve got to do some ground work, and headlining at the Paramount is a good step. I’m in this game for the challenge, and I know when the odds are stacked against me and everything’s set up that I’m gonna give it my all and that’s where I shine. I shine when I need to.”

Saturday would be a good start for the 12-2 Hicksville product. Back at 140 pounds after a two-fight trial at junior lightweight in 2015 that started well but ended with a disastrous second-round TKO at the hands of Tyrone Luckey last October, Karperis will be in with a familiar foe in Ariel Duran.

If it seems like an odd pairing, considering that Karperis decisioned Duran in July of 2014, it is, but it’s also a bout he doesn’t mind running back.

“It was one fight I always look back on, and even though I won and won decisively, it was a fight I always wished I could redo,” he said. “Whenever I watched it, I always saw that there were other things I should have done. I’m kind of happy to be able to redo it.”

That perfectionist nature is good for any fighter, and Karperis admits that he’s his own “harshest critic.” As such, he doesn’t hesitate to say that his move to 130 pounds was a mistake.

“If this was back then, I’d probably hang up the phone on you, that’s how miserable that 130 weight cut was,” he laughs. “140 is much more comfortable for me and I was able to put on a little more muscle. At 130, I was cutting 16, 17 pounds the week of the fight. I was miserable and I was chewing on ice cubes just to be able to have some kind of liquid or fluid in me without gaining any weight. I’ll never be going back to 130. 140 is my home.”

How bad did it get? Karperis was down to 3.9 percent body fat. If he was a bodybuilder, that would have been fine, but no bodybuilder has ever showed up to a competition and had someone throwing punches at him. So call it a lesson learned for the Hofstra University graduate, who would make his mother happy if he uses his Bachelor of Arts degree in Film after his boxing career is over.

But sometimes fighting is just in someone’s blood, and that’s the case with Karperis, who won a couple amateur kickboxing titles and earned a top ten United States ranking in jiu-jitsu as a teenager. And while he was friends with several fighters like Nick Pace, Jimmie Rivera and Louis Gaudinot who made it to the UFC as mixed martial artists, a look at one of boxing’s true classics took him in another direction.

“I really got into boxing when I saw Gatti-Ward,” he said. “I loved how boxing could be so technical, and at the same time you could go for broke and it could be an all-out war.”

Karperis pauses, before continuing.

“Even back in my kickboxing days,” he laughs. “I wasn’t a real kicker.”

He is a real fighter though, and Long Island fans have responded to him, making every trip to the ring not just a fight, but a celebration.

“It’s a phenomenal feeling,” Karperis said. “For a fighter coming up and having that huge support in an intimate place like that, you feel like you’re with 300 Spartans. It feels like you’re not fighting on your own, but that you’ve got everyone behind you.”