This homecoming hits differently for Montana Love.

Up next for the unbeaten Love is a scheduled 12-round regional title fight with Australia’s Steve Spark, due to take place this Saturday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Love’s hometown in Cleveland, Ohio. Sharing the bill with the 27-year-old southpaw is older brother Raynell Williams, a 2008 U.S. Olympian who returned to the ring in September following a five-year break.

“This is the first time we’re sharing a card in the professional ranks and our first time in general in a very long time,” Love told krikya360.com. “When I first started, he was with Al Haymon. We weren’t on the same path. When he first started, I was in prison.

“To be able to do this together after all we’ve been through is a blessing.”

Williams (13-1, 7KOs) faces fellow Ohio native Ryizeemmion Ford (8-2, 6KOs) on the preliminary undercard preceding the main DAZN telecast headlined by his younger brother. The scheduled six-round bout is the second for the 33-year-old in just two months. A fight on September 3 in Cleveland marked the first piece of ring action for the 33-year-old Williams since suffering a December 2017 fourth-round knockout loss to Joshua Zuniga.

By that point, Love (18-0-1, 9KOs) was getting his career and life back on track. It was more than a year since he was released from Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield, Ohio following a prison sentence on drug and theft charges, having advanced to 8-0 (4KOs) by the end of 2017.

The next four-plus years of Love’s career would see his career rise while his brother remained on the sidelines. It wasn’t until last summer when he enjoyed his first breakout performance, a seventh-round knockout of former IBF junior welterweight titlist Ivan Baranchyk last August at the very venue hosting Saturday’s DAZN show. The win led to Love signing with promoter Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing, and in turn a hometown headliner.

From the moment the show was put together, came the thought of Love and Williams sharing a card for the first time in their respective pro careers.

Williams returned to the ring one week after Love’s fight with Spark was formally announced, with his place on the undercard confirmed a few weeks ago. It comes with renewed interest in his own career, at a time where Love inches closer to title contention.

“He’s been looking sharp,” insists Love of his older brother. “The only time he’s fought anywhere near home before this year was in Cincinnati and he was underneath Adrien Broner and those guys. He wasn’t really getting what he needed. His whole style changed and he reached a point when he didn’t even know when he was gonna fight again. He was just going through the motions. He was losing sight and wasn’t focused.

“Now, he’s hungry again, he’s got that motivation back. This is amazing to be able to share this opportunity with him.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox