SAN ANTONIO – The opponent this weekend will be a rising, undefeated prospect who plans on doing big things in the sport once he gets the win this weekend.

Thomas Mattice has been here far too many times already but doesn’t mind the view. Mexico’s Ramiro Cesena will mark the Cleveland native’s second straight unbeaten foe, with a similar outcome predicted for their DAZN opener this Saturday from Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas.

“I’m the ‘O’ collector. I’m gonna take that ‘O’,” Mattice vowed during Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference. “I’m hungry, too. I am war. I’m ready for all that.”

The bout opens a four-fight DAZN telecast headlined by local hero Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (17-0, 11KOs) who faces Mexico’s Cristian Gonzalez (15-1, 6KOs) for the vacant WBO flyweight title.

Cesena (16-0-1, 13KOs) and his team sought out Mattice as the type of fight to establish himself both in a competitive 130-pound division as well as in his U.S. debut. Even with his gaudy record, however, Cesena still steps up in class.

Mattice (20-3-1, 15KOs) owns three wins over unbeaten opposition, two of which came after suffering his first defeat to Will Madera in their February 2019 battle of undefeated prospects. That setback began a rough patch where Mattice suffered all three career defeats in a seven-fight span. However, among his four wins in that period was an eighth-round stoppage of Michael Dutchover who was 13-0 at the time of their September 2019 bout in Midland, Texas.

Three wins have followed a disappointing eight-round decision defeat to Luis Melendez in November 2021. The most significant of the lot came in his ten-round nod over Puerto Rico’s Christian Tapia, whose unblemished record was at risk after suffering a second-round knockdown and erased by the end of their ten-round scorcher last November 12 in his Cleveland hometown.

You can’t blame Mattice for entering this weekend’s bout with a been-there, done-that mindset particularly when his opponent can’t argue the same. That’s not to say that he expects the same outcome as was the case five months ago versus Tapia—to do so would be to settle for complacency, which his track record clearly doesn’t suggest.

“I’m sure he’s trained and fully prepared,” acknowledged Mattice. “I’m for sure trained and fully prepared. All I know is, I don’t want to see the distance. I don’t want to see the judges on Saturday night. I’m coming to hurt someone.”

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