The reaction to his being informed of a new opponent was the same as when Erickson Lubin was first told about his next fight date.

“I was ready for it the moment they told me I was fighting,” Lubin (21-1, 16KOs) told BoxingScene.com. “I don’t care who they put in the ring this Saturday. It didn’t matter when it was Terrell Gausha, doesn’t matter to me now that it’s Nathaniel Gallimore. The minute they told I was fighting on Oct. 26, we went right back to work.”

The 24-year old junior middleweight contender from Orlando, Florida was initially due to face 2012 U.S. Olympian and former title challenger Terrell Gausha (21-1-1, 10KOs) in Saturday’s Showtime-televised headliner at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania. The pairing was befitting their ongoing exchange through social media, only for original plans to fall through when Gausha was forced to withdraw due to a hand injury suffered during training.

Fans were pleasantly surprised to hear of the replacement opponent in Gallimore (21-3-1, 17KOs), who looks to rediscover past career progress. The Jamaica-born, Chicago-bred boxer earned his reputation as a spoiler and a prospect to watch after bumping off previously unbeaten Jeison Rosario and then-streaking Justin DeLoach—the latter whom served as a sparring partner for Lubin in this camp—in consecutive bouts in 2017, only to suffer back to back losses to Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams (now a unified 154-pound titlist) and Patrick Teixeira one year ago.

Of course, Lubin still finds himself having to disprove his critics based on one bad night. The talented southpaw and former amateur standout has currently won three straight after a shocking 1st round knockout loss to Jermell Charlo in his lone career title fight two years ago. All three wins have come within four rounds or less, including his becoming the first to stop former 154-pound titlist Ishe Smith in their three-round affair this past February.

The fight ended a 10-month layoff, although the extended break also gave him time to adjust to new head trainer and veteran coach Kevin Cunningham who joined the team last June. Their two fights together have lasted less than seven full rounds thus far.

“The only thing I care about with Gallimore (being the new opponent), is that he lasts long enough for me to show everything that I’ve added to my game,” insists Lubin, who is coming off of a 4th round knockout of Zakaria Attou this past June. “This is a fight where I want to show my full boxing ability.

“With these quick knockouts, I haven’t been able to show that off. I haven’t shown anything major about myself in these last few fights. I hope to get that chance this weekend, if (Gallimore) can withstand it for that long.”

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